EASTERN CAPE - ZWIDE SASSA EMPLOYEE DIES OF COVID-19 RELATED ISSUES AND ANOTHER EMPLOYEE TESTS POSITIVE IN LADY FRERE

Yesterday a Sassa employee from the Zwide office in Port Elizabeth died after she had tested positive for Covid-19.

One of the employees said they feared for their safety as 29 of their colleagues had allegedly tested positive for Covid-19 from the Zwide office.

“It feels like officials are hiding the coronavirus and all that they are concerned about is just work. If I had the means I would be resigning straight away because this agency is so toxic. It is only looking after the interests  of the politicians and does not care about our well being,” she said.

Sassa spokesperson Reverend Luzuko Qina said the rumours were not true.
Colleagues at the Zwide local office were informed of the grant administrator’s death via a work chat group on WhatsApp today.

"During the lockdown period the deceased was deployed to monitor the April payment cycle at various ATMs and Merchants around PE. She was also part of the SASSA team that was assigned a responsibility of distributing the social relief of distress food parcels to various households who are facing undue hardship around the NM Bay Metropolitan," the message said.

"She died at her place on Monday morning and it took time for her body to be collected," one of the Sassa employees said to Sowetan

Another colleague said they feared for their lives as the deceased had tested positive on Wednesday and then went into quarantine at her place, which she shared with her boyfriend.

"Unfortunately the boyfriend and other family members who were contacts of the deceased have not been tested yet. Just imagine how many people they have been in contact with," she said.

SASSA's spokesperson Reverend Luzuko Qina said announcements on covid-19 deaths were made by the Minister of Health.

The South African Security Agency office in Lady Frere, Eastern Cape, has been closed after one of the staff members tested positive for Covid-19.

The employees said they received a message from their WhatsApp work chat group  on Tuesday morning.

The message read: “Cdes [sic] I would also announce the sad news that there is another outbreak at Lady Frere where another lady tested positive and the office is closed.”

Qina confirmed that the office has been closed.

“As it is standard practice on instances of this nature, the Lady Frere office is closed after one of the officials tested positive of Covid-19. The office will be sanitised and all staff will undergo testing,” Qina said.

via - SOWETANLIVE / SOWETAN LIVE