COVID-19

Amid apparent paranoia on the part of the African National Congress Youth League Task Team (Ancyl) in the Peter Mokaba Region and neighbours of an accommodation establishment some 30 km from Polokwane about it being considered for hosting the contingent of South African repatriates caught in the epicentre of the global Coronavirus threat, the hotel was engaged in contingency preparations yesterday (Wednesday) if the go-ahead would have been given for it to become the country’s preferred quarantine facility.
More than 100 South Africans are expected in the country tomorrow (Friday) and at the time of going to press the final decision on the part of Government about the quarantine facility was still awaited. A decision confirming the establishment the preferred venue in South Africa would render it a no-go and no-fly zone for the duration of the period of lock-down upon it being declared a quarantine facility.
At the time of going to print another six new cases were reportedly confirmed, four in Gauteng following travels to Germany as well as Austria and Italy respectively, one in KwaZulu-Natal after travels to Portugal and one in Western Cape after travels to Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Turkey.
In a statement issued on behalf of the Ancyl in the Peter Mokaba Region on Tuesday evening, Task Team Coordinator Tonny Rachoene stressed that they would do everything in their power to disturb the arrangement and organise a ‘mother of all marches’ to close down the facility along the N1 highway.
Lim ANC to meet Health Ministry
In the meantime the ANC in Limpopo said in a statement issued around noon yesterday that its Provincial Working Committee was due to meet with the Minister and Deputy Minister of Health, Zweli Mhize and Joe Phaahla as well as ANC Deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte today (Thursday) and would receive a detailed report on the repatriation process where after a statement would be released to inform the public on the outcome of the meeting.
Mentioning the 122 South African nationals in the process of being repatriated from Wuhan in the People’s Republic of China, ANC Provincial Secretary Soviet Lek­ganyane referred to seven hailing from Limpopo.
Comment from accommodation establishment
The general manager of the hotel, Paul Shearer, informed Polokwane Observer telephonically yesterday morning that he would never have agreed when approached by Government for the resort to be identified as a possible preferred venue to host the affected persons – whom he was briefed to have been in perfect health – if the establishment would have been used as medical or isolation facility. In addition he reiterated that he would also never have considered such an arrangement if it would have put staff or even the property at risk.
He mentioned that in the meantime the hotel was liaising with individual and conferencing clients to inform them of the possibility of the resort not being accessible within the next 30 days, he indicated. He could not make any statement as it was a Government prerogative, according to Shearer.
Shearer further emphasised that in the likelihood of the hotel being identified as quarantine facility they would provide the required services to the contingent of guests in line with prescribed health and safety regulations to be stipulated by Government. He stressed that he would personally be on site to oversee the rendering of required services if the hotel would be confirmed as preferred venue.
Dismay on part of establishment’s neighbour
On Tuesday morning a neighbour of the establishment contacted Polokwane Observer to make known dismay over what she termed to be a confirmed decision already taken last Thursday following three weeks of negotiations and the risk posed to hotel staff and, in turn, workers in the area. The caller, who insisted on remaining anonymous, said they were concerned about the staff complement finding a way out of the hotel premises while in direct contact with the party of South Africans expected from China. She stressed concern about the fact that there was no guarantee that the workers of the hotel would not leave the facility during the period of quarantine. She further questioned how they would be kept totally separate from other workers in their immediate surrounds and how their children would be prevented from attending school. She further complained about the hotel being close to Polokwane and not situated in a distant location at all.
She claimed that the owners of the establishment would have planned to go on a two-month holiday while the facility was being utilised for a quarantine venue.
Ancyl RTT comes out guns blazing
The task team of the youth league in ANC’s Peter Mokaba Region came out with guns blazing and threatened in a statement that if the department and the hotel decide to be arrogant and continue with the arrangement of putting the lives of local residents in danger, they would do everything to disturb the arrangement and organise a mother of all marches to close it down.
Rachoene emphasised that they were gravely concerned about the hotel becoming a ‘host venue’ for the more than 100 people who would be repatriated from the Republic of China. He said they understood that talks between the department and the management of the hotel were at an advanced stage and reckoned that the next step was for the department to send the “suspected patients” to the facility.
According to him, the league has engaged with the management of the venue in an endeavour to find common ground on the matter. “Our bone of contention is that the first site which was identified is the Free State and now that the Free State has reneged, Limpopo was seen to be a ‘low hanging fruit’ to play host to the ‘patients’. If one of the employees at the venue in question were to contract the virus, they would transmit it to the multitudes of people they interact with, in public transport, their homes and other places where black people socialise,” Rachoene stressed.
He further said it is the view of the region that having Limpopo as a quarantine facility would send shock waves through communities and was likely to give bad publicity to the vulnerable tourism economy of the province.
A workable solution to this impasse would be to have each province having its own quarantine facility to have manageable numbers to deal with, Rachoene suggested.
He alleged that they have also learnt through reliable sources from the hotel that its staffers had been coerced into signing indemnity forms that absolves the hotel of possible liability in case they contracted the virus. He added that they couldn’t have a government that put the lives of its people at risk without taking responsibility.
When contacted for comment on the allegations, Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba cut the conversation short by saying: “We don’t know anything. Ask the Ancyl and the national Department of Health.” Attempts to get hold of national Health Department Spokesperson Popo Maja were in vain.
“No need to panic” – Provincial Outbreaks Response Team member
Medical expert Victor Matabane, member of the Department of Health’s Provincial Outbreaks Response Team, indicated that Limpopo was capable to curb any outbreak more than any other province in the country. When addressing the possibility of a local hotel being likely to be announced as isolation zone, Matabane said it showed that South Africa had confidence in Limpopo’s medical expertise.
He said it was not necessary for residents to panic or wear any sort of protective attire because they were safe. He reiterated that surgical masks were only handed out to a group of 16 Capricorn Technical and Vocational Education and Training (Tvet) students who returned to the city last week after attending internship programmes in China’s central province of Henan.
Matabane who is a public health, travel health and aviation doctor stressed that Limpopo has been tested by many outbreaks but dealt with them all and concluded by calling for calm as outbreaks response teams were ready and prepared to deal with any sort of virus that might hit the province.
Dialogue with Tvet students upon return from China
Information provided by Limpopo’s Health department indicated that on Tuesday evening, Ramathuba along with a team of public health specialists and health promotion unit met with the students and their lecturers. It was reported that Ramathuba held a dialogue with the students, who allegedly confirmed that they were quarantined in China, that upon landing they were screened at OR Tambo International Airport, that none of them had any symptoms and that their plane was decontaminated. They further confirmed that the local medical team screened them once more when they arrived at the college, it was learnt.
No case recorded in Limpopo thus far
Ramathuba’s spokesperson, Thilivhani Muavha highlighted that a social media group was created to communicate with the students daily. He emphasised that thus far no case of Covid-19 had been recorded in the province that the department continued to be extra cautious and was keeping a sharp eye on each of the students because they didn’t want to take any chances. He added that although the students were not showing any signs of infection, they were currently in self-isolation.
UL refutes false social media posts
In the meantime the University of Limpopo’s registrar, Kwena Masha indicated that the executive management categorically denied a case of Cornonavirus having been reported on campus and stated that social media posts in that regard were false. Masha further stressed that matters involving Covid-19 could only be confirmed by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and only the Ministry of Health could communicate such positively tested cases.

Story: YOLANDE NEL
>>observer.yolande@gmail.com
ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za