TWO thousand rand or an equivalent of about US$130 is a small fortune for a woman working as a maid in the leafy suburbs of Johannesburg.
The amount is about 70 percent of a monthly salary that
Janet Mthimkhulu, a Lupane born 40-year-old woman, working in Johannesburg
takes home at the end of every month.
By her admission, the R2 000 goes a long way in purchasing
festive season groceries and clothes for her two kids and elderly mother back
in Lupane.
But this time around, that money will be used for an
entirely different purpose if Mthimkhulu is entertaining any thoughts of
travelling back home to be with her loved ones for the Christmas holidays.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed life as we knew it
prior to the worldwide outbreak of the novel virus early this year. And most
certainly, Covid-19 has changed the face of travel, be it by air, road or sea.
In a week’s time Mthimkhulu should be packing her bags, bus
ticket and passport ready for the 870km journey from Johannesburg to Bulawayo.
But this time around, it’s not as simple as that. She must have a negative
Covid-19 certificate to enable her to travel back home.
The test costs R850 in a private laboratory and must not be
older than 48 hours upon arrival at the border.
“This will be the most expensive journey back home because
now I must spend R850 for the Covid-19 test here in Johannesburg, a day before
I board a bus to Bulawayo.
“R850 is a lot of money for a domestic worker like myself
who works as a maid for a white family here in Johannesburg. That money alone
is enough for a bus ticket to Bulawayo or to buy my two kids new clothes for
Christmas.
“This Covid-19 disease is really wreaking havoc in our
lives, first it was job losses for a majority of Zimbabweans living here and
now we have to bear the cost of tests to travel back home,” Mthimkhulu tells
Saturday Leisure by telephone from South Africa.
The extra costs that Mthimkhulu must budget for do not end
there. On her return to SA, she must present a negative test not older than 72
hours. That test costs US$60 (around R920).
“The two tests will cost about R1 800 and if I add the
local transport costs to the laboratories, it easily adds up to R2 000. That is
a lot of money, which I should be using for other things such as school
uniforms for my kids.
“I haven’t even factored in bus fare which costs R1 200 for
a return trip to Johannesburg, more money to travel to my rural home from
Bulawayo, groceries for the family and school fees for the children next year
when schools open,” lamented Mthimkhulu.
Mthimkhulu is not alone in this new predicament presented
to travellers as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking to the media two weeks ago, other Zimbabweans
living in Limpopo, the South Africa province that lies after the Beitbridge
border post, told the same story.
“If you want to travel to another country, you need a
negative Covid-19 certificate. It is your own private thing so you can visit
private laboratories for the Covid-19 test and get a certificate,” said
Thilivhali Muavha, spokesperson for the Limpopo health department during a
joint Zim/SA taskforce tour of the border.
“Public hospitals do not do that.” But for many
Zimbabweans, the costs are just too high.
Marvelous Moyo, who runs a food stall near the South Africa
border gate, said since March this year, she has not been able to afford to
visit her family in Masvingo because the lockdown affected her business.
“Though borders were opened for us to travel back home, I
could not. My only means of sustaining a living is through selling food at this
place. The little money I am getting since we were allowed to go back to
business is not enough to meet the travel costs including Covid-19 tests,” she
told the taskforce.
Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe said the Covid-19
costs were a necessary evil that the travelling public must learn to live with
for the unforeseeable future.
“We need to save lives. This pandemic is real. We urge our
citizens to plan their trips. If you know you want to travel in a few weeks, do
what is expected of you so you do not have challenges at the border,” he said.
To circumvent the stringent border control demands for
Covid-19 certificates, many will likely turn to using the illegal entry points
dotted along the border line.
Omalayitsha – cross border transporters – are already
smiling in anticipation of injiva that will require their services to
outmanoeuvre border officials by using illegal entry points.
During an unrelated trip to Esigodini, the last small town
before entering Bulawayo, Chronicle Showbiz had a chat with a malayitsha coming
home from South Africa.
“There is a solution to every problem and this is where we
come in. Travellers will abandon buses and come to us because we can get them
through the border without the Covid-19 certificates,” he bragged.
The cross-border transporter was carrying passengers in his
Toyota Quantum, towing a trailer laden with a variety of goods from beds to
groceries.
If left unabated, the influx of travellers without negative
Covid-19 certificates could be catastrophic to the fight against coronavirus in
the country.
Bulawayo in particular has seen a surge in new cases and
most worrying in schools around the Matabeleland region. Chronicle
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