NELSON MANDELA BAY - ACTING MAYOR CALLS ON RAMAPHOSA TO ACT SWIFTLY TO CONTROL RISING COVID-19 INFECTIONS IN THE METRO

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Acting Mayor Councillor Thsonono Buyeye has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to act swiftly to control the alarming COVID-19 infections in the City after submissions were presented to him during a virtual meeting on Wednesday, 2 December 2020.

Mayor Buyeye said the City had reached a desperate situation to have the situation changed around after it was highlighted during the Metro Command Council meeting held on Wednesday, that a total of 103 people had died due to COVID-19 over the last seven days.

Addressing members of the media on Wedneday Mayor Buyeye said: “If it means people must not move around as a matter of saving lives I’m sure that is the route that we will take. Most of that will come when the President speaks to us, I am not sure when but I think the Cabinet is sitting very soon and once they have taken a decision the President will speak to all of us. We were in the meeting with him this morning and it was a good meeting and everything was brought before the President and we hope as a matter of urgency we will get what the Cabinet will say and that will be communicated to everybody.”

“We are still the epicentre of COVID-19 in the country and the numbers continue to rise and the deaths are also on the increase. We continue to monitor the situation, it is known that we have submitted to the Provincial government to readjust the curfew to start at 10pm and not at 12am. We have throughout the week had engagements with liquor traders, shebeen and tavern owners and we have recently received a formal submission from the Liquor Board who have after consulting with their members agreed that we can submit a submission to the Provincial government that they are now including the liquor traders; your big establishments that sell liquor mostly in the townships including Tops, that must work from Monday to Thursday and close during the weekends.

“Taverns and shebeens must only sell take-aways, that is what they have put forward and we have submitted and are awaiting a response. If it is not regulated it becomes difficult to enforce because might open and trade and there will be no regulation that says they can’t do that. We submitted to the Province to make sure that it must find expression in the regulation so that law enforcement will know what to do.”

On the issue of traditional initiation, the Mayor said engagements had taken place with local traditional leaders who have objected to the call to have the initiation season cancelled in the City in December.

“There has been a strong proposal coming from other parts of the country to say maybe as a City we should not have initiation this coming season however the local traditional leaders are opposed to that, they say let everyone in the country must not be allowed to proceed as the boys will likely run to other parts of the province and undergo the tradition there and that is not solving the problem as we do not want to expose other parts of the province and country to the virus.”

NMBM Disaster Management Chairperson Shane Brown said there were 3500 active cases in the City currently.

“Over the last seven days we had 103 new deaths and of the active cases. Our quarantine site is empty and that is a challenge because people under investigation do not want to be put under quarantine which obviously increases the risk of COVID-19 spread. In the Intensive Care Units we have 109 patients, with 95 in private hospitals and the rest in the public hospitals. We have 714 people admitted in hospitals for COVID-19 with 314 in private hospitals,” he said.

Mayor Buyeye sent a stern warning to business owners who recently found to be providing diluted sanitisers.

“We have received disturbing information that some businesses do not comply with the regulations, in some shops you enter and there is no one at the door to make that you are sanitised properly. Where there is person at the door, sometimes the sanitiser is diluted. Shops dilute sanitisers and it is health risk for all of us. It’s a serious issue and we need to enforce and come down on those who are found to be putting the lives of residents at risk. We don’t want to take this one lying down.

NMNM Public Health Deputy Director for Public Health, Dr Patrick Nodwele said: “We visited the retail outlets for compliance monitoring purposes. The reports that came back indicate that some of the sanitisers that are used in the retail outlets may be diluted. The work places regulations are quite clear on the quality that is required of a sanitiser and the etiquette that is required in those facilities. Once you walk into these facilities, you get sanitised, you think that you have protection when in actual fact you may not have. In some instances, your trolley might be sprayed with a sanitiser and you are hoping that is a correct sanitiser when in actual fact it is not.”

“We will be embarking on a sampling and testing programme for these sanitisers. We will be testing from the side of the manufacturers, the suppliers but we will also take samples at the point of dispensing as you walk into the retail outlets on the spot so that we test the quality of these sanitisers on the spot. There will be on-the spot equipment that we busy procuring so that we can get results immediately. For prosecution purposes we will use a laboratory because we need laboratory confirmation so that we can effect the necessary prosecutions.”

via - NMBM