Shunned and spat at – Netball SA president opens up about Covid-19 ordeal

After returning from a trip to the UK where she’d attended meetings with the International Netball Federation of which she’s a board member,  Netball South Africa (NSA) president Cecilia Molokwane announced she had tested positive for Covid-19.

The mother of three has since tested negative and gone through the process of self-quarantining. She spoke to Parenty about isolating in the same house as her kids.

The 44-year-old said: “I was quarantined at home for a period of two weeks. It wasn’t easy because knowing that you are diagnosed with an illness that doesn’t have a cure – it is tough emotionally, physically and it spiritually – it just drains you. It also drains you sitting alone, doing nothing, when I’m a person who is ordinarily always busy.”

Molokwane said that since making her status public she and her children, Lerato Junior, 22, Tiang, 16, and her daughter Phologo, 3, endured a lot of unexpected abuse: “My kids were mocked, I had to deal with people coming to the gate, spitting there, and there were kids covering their noses. And I had mothers telling their kids not to talk to my kids because they might get coronavirus.”

As if this ordeal wasn’t enough, she had to be separated from her kids while sharing a home with them, saying it took two weeks before she could interact and touch them again.

Her advice to other families in a time of Covid-19?

“Parents must tell their kids that coronavirus doesn’t move around – people do – so staying at home is keeping them safe. Be honest with your kids and tell them the situation so that they know and accept it. You need to stay strong and be supportive of each other because this is when you need each other more than ever.”