SACP blasts Western Cape’s handling of Covid-19

The increasing confirmed cases and the death toll in Western Cape is not only worrying Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize but also ANC alliance partners the South African Communist Party (SACP), who called the handling of Covid-19 in the province ‘Trump-oriented’ and disorganised compared to other provinces.

By Sunday, the Western Cape had 5,168 confirmed cases, the highest number in the country with the death toll at 98. Gauteng has the second-highest figures with only 1,952 cases and 22 deaths.

SACP provincial secretary Benson Ngqentsu called for direct intervention by the national government, stricter lockdown measures due to the increasing numbers, as reported by IOL.

SACP believes that the intervention by the government will help flatten the curve in the province.

“There has to be a strong team with authority deployed by the national government here. The main sources of infection are in retail and farms and there is no leadership to ensure that these people are not infected.”

“The workers there go back to their homes and infect their families and what is worrying is that there is not even a provincial command centre here,” Ngqentsu said.

He said the DA’s call to end the lockdown was self-serving: “The obsession of the DA to end the lockdown is driven by those who own the industries. They are all about profits at all cost.”

Mkhize visited the province on the weekend, saying the outbreak experienced was in clusters with both public and private laboratories suffering from the constraints of the availability of test kits.

Mkhize said the government would be looking into what additional support the province needs and “we will deploy the Cuban specialists, as well as additional medical practitioners”.

We are going to look at what additional support the province needs. We will be reinforcing the team. We will deploy the Cuban specialists, as well as additional medical practitioners.

— Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) May 9, 2020

(Compiled by Sandisiwe Mbhele)

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