Angry residents in Soweto yesterday forced the Food Lover's
Market at Jabulani Mall to close after one of its employees had been told to go
into a 14-day quarantine on suspicion that she had Covid-19.
The worker was allegedly told to self-quarantine after
displaying Covid-19 symptoms in mid-April, but when her colleagues questioned
their superiors, they were apparently told that she had flu.
Residents in the area stormed the outlet on Sunday,
confronted the managers and forced the store to close, but police officers were
called to the scene and dispersed the crowd.
Community members returned again yesterday after finding
out the store was open and once again forced it to close its doors.
A staff member, who asked not to be named for fear of
reprisals, told Sowetan their colleague seemed sick around Easter.
"It first started with a cough, but we didn't take
much note of it because we were all busy. There are sanitisers in the store and
we were given masks. But we found it odd when she did not report for work for
14 days and only returned on Friday [May 1]," the staffer said.
He said they confronted their managers and they were still
told that their colleague had flu.
"How can they tell us that she had the flu for two
weeks? Is that not a coincidence? Why did they not tell us to also quarantine?
This means they don't care about our wellbeing and that of our families because
if she has Covid-19, we might have it and our families might have it. Many
customers might have it," he said.
He said the employee was taken to get tested yesterday and
they were waiting for the results.
"We'll have to see what the results are, but we hope
they are negative," he said. When the Sowetan team visited Jabulani Mall yesterday, it
found the store closed.
Many of the employees wearing face masks were sitting in
the store and seemed bewildered by the closure.
The franchise's spokesperson Nigel Meintjes denied the
staff member tested positive for Covid-19 nor had any proof been produced to
them. Sowetan
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