Eight minibus taxis carrying more than 80 people from the Western Cape were stopped near Elliotdale on Thursday.
They were all found to have invalid permits and it left authorities baffled on how they have managed to travel through the borders of the two provinces.
Health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo and King Sabata Dalindyebo municipal public safety portfolio head councillor Tshepo Machaea confirmed that the people were from Western Cape and were travelling to the various villages of Elliotdale.
”There are 88 and we have screened all of them,” said Kupelo.
Machaea said that the people involved both men and women and all were seasonal farm workers at Ceres in the Western Cape.
”According to the information we received, they were going to their respective homes in villages in and around Elliotdale. They say that their employers sent them home as the have finished their seasonal work of harvesting apple. The only permits they have is from their farmer saying that they were were travelling to Mthatha,” said Machaea.
He said that they have learnt that the drivers had used some shortcuts travelling from the Western Cape.
”But what we can say for now is that this matter, the authenticity of permits and how under lockdown they manage to travel from one province to another is all under investigation,” said Machaea.
He said that all the people were kept at Mqanduli town waiting for the provincial authorities to find a place for all of them to undergo the mandatory quarantine.
Nkosi Mkhanyiseli Dudumayo of AmaTshomane in Mqanduli urged the authorities not to release the people without having quarantine.
”We fear of transmission, hence we request that all should only be released after they have been quarantined and given a clean bill of health. We are not disowning them. This is in the best interest of them all , their families and their communities,” said Dudumayo.
A 27-year-old Fameni village resident in Elliotdale, Ncebakazi Willie, who returned from Italy where she was working, was the first Covid-19 in Elliotdale and in Amathole district. She was quarantined in Madwaleni Hospital in Elliotdale and later tested negative and released.
She was the first person in the Eastern Cape to go public about her Covid-19 status. – DispatchLIVE
