The draconian regulations, which determine that South Africans who are repatriated from neighbouring countries and abroad must be placed under quarantine for 14 days, must be amended so as to grant people the opportunity to self-isolate / -quarantine if they choose to do so and can prove that they are indeed able to.
Since the inception of lockdown, repatriated South Africans have repeatedly been taken to facilities that were not fit for human habitation and that did not comply with any of the health and safety standards.
The most recent incident at the Mercure Hotel in Nelspruit, where people were prohibited from having themselves tested for Covid-19 through private institutions, is just another example of the power-hungry ANC government's irrational regulations. The FF Plus brought the incident to the attention of the Department of Health on Monday and the Department is currently liaising between the party and the Mpumalanga local government.
People cannot be detained for 14 days while they are refused the opportunity to have private testing done.
As soon as people arrive at the border posts, their temperature should be taken and they should be tested as soon as they arrive at the relevant facilities. If their test results are negative, the doctor at the facility must issue and sign their release documents. To detain people at a facility while preventing them from getting tested, whether through the state or private health care sector, is a gross violation of their human rights.
The FF Plus is of the opinion that those who are able to self-isolate / -quarantine must be allowed to do so.
The technology needed to monitor whether these people are indeed self-isolating is readily available and should be utilised. People who are unable to self-isolate must be placed in quarantine facilities that comply with the relevant health and safety standards and that do not violate their human rights.
Transgressions, like placing people in inadequate facilities, treating them like prisoners, refusing them medication or providing them with inedible food, pave the way for the government to once again come up against the brick wall of the law – just like in the previous case involving Zithabiseni where the court ordered that the facility, which is also situated in Mpumalanga, must be closed.
The way in which the South African government is treating repatriates is nothing but scandalous. It goes to show that the government does not care for human lives and will do anything to exert power and authority over the people of South Africa.
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