Uncedo Taxi Association secretary, Doc Ngcongca, said they met with the department of health disaster management team and other stakeholders to discuss plans to deal with the outbreak.
“We will form a task team to distribute hand sanitisers to drivers and passengers at taxi ranks. We continue to make each other aware of the virus and precautionary measures to be taken if one feels sick. As part of our awareness campaign we put up posters about what people can do to keep themselves safe, along with the whatsapp number for people to get more information about coronavirus.
“We have also distributed masks in taxis, but the challenge is that a mask cannot be worn more than once. We will approach stakeholders about this and see where they can assist us. We encourage people to wear masks and buy their own.”
Queenstown Baptist Church pastor Michael Watson said the church would not meet as usual this Sunday, but had plans to conduct services in smaller groups.
“We have grouped ourselves to about 10 people to meet twice a week in ‘home churches” as we call them. On Sundays, we will do a live feed of a church service via our Facebook page for everyone to be part of. The Alcoholics Anonymous group will still meet at the church as usual because they are not a big group.”
Owner of Proclean Minty Nontsele, whose business supplies disinfectant products, among other things, said sales of disinfectants, sanitisers, gloves and masks had increased.
“We ran out of stock within an hour on Monday after the president’s address and we have had challenges with pricing as the prices of raw material have increased. I would like to caution against panic buying as there must be enough for everyone. It is not enough to protect yourself, but your neighbours and colleagues need to be protected too.”
Owner of Superclean, Sue Marriott, said chemical suppliers had tripled raw chemical prices for hand sanitisers and they were battling to source dust masks, spray bottles and surgical gloves. “We now have to pay cash upfront for the chemicals, whereas before we had accounts with these suppliers. We also have to fetch the products ourselves in Boksburg. This obviously puts a strain on the cashflow of any business. The panic by the public has been wild as people want to secure a lot of stock instead of also allowing others to buy.”
Marriott said strict measures were put in place in terms of purchasing of these highly-demanded products. She mentioned that the business was currently out of stock, but expected to get more in a week’s time. “We are trying our best to supply at a reasonable price,” Marriott added.
Despite the president’s call to prohibit gatherings of more than 100 people, hundreds of Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality general workers from surrounding areas were grouped at the Komani Post Office to collect their wages on Wednesday. They shared their frustration with The Rep, indicating that they were at risk of catching the virus.
Nomthandazo Smile from Ndlovukazi said residents of that area alone,who came to collect their wages, were more than 100. “I arrived here around 4am and it is now 3pm and I am still standing in a long queue. It is a shame because someone experienced a seizure while we were here. It pains us because the president has called for schools to close and has stopped conferences and other gatherings. There are people from more than five areas here. The supervisors are doing as they please. I probably have this coronavirus as I speak. ”