No quarantine centre in Limpopo, ANCYL insists, threatening action

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s apparent plan to use a Limpopo facility to quarantine more than 100 South Africans being repatriated from Wuhan in China due to the coronavirus outbreak has met with resistance from the local ANC Youth League (ANCYL).

It said it was a very “sensitive matter that needed to be handled with “velvet gloves”.

It’s been claimed that The Ranch Hotel, about 12km from Polokwane, is the quarantine venue.

The ANCYL took this stance after Ramaphosa assigned 151 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members and officials from the departments of international relations and cooperation and health to repatriate South Africans returning from China to South Africa.

Speaking during a send-off at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday night, Ramaphosa said the team was expected to return on Thursday. He said once they landed, they would be quarantined for 21 days in an undisclosed location.

He urged South Africans not to panic as those being repatriated were not infected with the virus.

This apparently angered the ANCYL and some of its members threatened to take to the streets if Ramaphosa’s plan went ahead.

The Peter Mokaba ANC regional youth league said yesterday it had engaged with the management of The Ranch to find common ground on the matter.

“Our bone of contention is that the first site which was identified was the Free State and now that the province has reneged, Limpopo was seen to be ‘low hanging fruit’ to play host to the patients.

“Our problem is that if one of the employees at The Ranch contracts the virus, they will transmit it to the multitudes of people they interact with.

“A workable solution would be to have quarantine camps in every province. If the department and the hotel decide to be arrogant and continue with this arrangement, putting the lives of our people in danger, the league will do everything to disturb this arrangement and organise the mother of all marches against it,” the ANCYL in the region said.

Political analyst Elvis Masoga said the plan to use Limpopo as the quarantine venue was a grave insult to the people of Limpopo.

“Limpopo cannot carry the weight of the entire country because of the false belief that Limpopo people are porous, humble and not as rebellious as others. I will also encourage the people of Limpopo to be hostile to the idea,” he said.

The provincial ANC said it would meet Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize, Deputy Minister Joe Phaahla and ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte to get a report on the repatriation.

The public would be informed about the outcome, ANC Limpopo provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane said.

– alexm@citizen.co.za

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