THE Matabeleland South provincial taskforce committee on
Covid-19 has called for the speedy transfer of returnees to their respective
provinces as the province is running out of quarantine space.
Speaking during a meeting on Wednesday, Acting Provincial
Development Co-ordinator who is also the chairperson of the taskforce
committee, Ms Sithandiwe Ncube, said with the opening of schools imminent the
province had lost a number of quarantine facilities and more which had been
identified were not ready for use.
The province has over the past month recorded an upsurge in
the number of deportees returning home through the Plumtree and Beitbridge
border posts. They have been housed at quarantine centres in Beitbridge and
Plumtree while awaiting to be transferred to their respective areas.
In Plumtree returnees were being housed at Plumtree High
School and Allen Redfern Primary School but with the opening of schools which
has been scheduled for end of July, returnees have to be removed from schools
that were being used as quarantine facilities to make way for learners.
“We are running out of quarantine space and if we continue
to receive people from either border we will have a challenge. At the moment we
are working on relocating those being quarantined in schools to other
facilities to make way for opening of schools. With learning institutions now
out of the picture we have a challenge.
“Most of the facilities which we have identified as
quarantine centres are just halls which need partitioning, ablution facilities
and other works which require funds.
“As a result, there is need for returnees which we have in
the province or those that we will be receiving to be transferred to their
respective areas speedily.
“For those from this province we have referred them to
their respective districts to make way for more people that will be coming in.
“The truth is that as a province we are overwhelmed by
returning residents as our structures are not ideal,” she said.
Ms Ncube said they had engaged the national command centre
to ensure that people were quickly moved to their respective provinces. She
said there were a lot of formalities that needed to be done in moving the
returnees.
She said there was also need for continuous disinfection in
Plumtree and Beitbridge especially at the border posts and quarantine centres
as they were red zones.
Speaking during the same meeting Matabeleland South
provincial social welfare officer, Mr Criswell Nyakudya said Beitbridge NSSA
Hotel had 96 returnees and 38 of these had tested positive for Covid-19 and had
been placed under isolation. He said the facility has the capacity to
accommodate 140 people.
He said at Plumtree High School 24 people were been
transferred to Esikhoveni Training Centre while 10 were referred to Matobo
Research Centre and 11 more people were still at the facility waiting to be
transferred to their various districts.
Mr Nyakudya said Allen Redfern had 11 people who were
awaiting to be referred to another institution. He said there was concern from
some returnees at Nssa Hotel in Beitbridge as they did not want to be housed
within the same institution as returnees that had tested positive for Covid-19.
— Chronicle
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