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Beitbridge Bureau
FOURTEEN Zimbabweans were on Monday stranded on the South African side of Beitbridge Border Post after failing to meet requirements to enter into the country.
Under the current lockdown guidelines, there should be a prior arrangement for people, especially returning residents to move within the two neighbours.
The group of Zimbabweans spent Monday night at Gateway truck stop in South Africa and were only allowed entry into Zimbabwe, following consultations of the respective border authorities. The 14 have since been put into quarantine at the NSSA Hotel in Beitbridge.
Beitbridge Covid-19 Taskforce chairperson, Mrs Skhangazile Mafu Moyo said the 14 were cleared after intervention of local border authorities.
“They arrived in the afternoon and so far we have 131 people in quarantine.
“We are yet to get a date when several others will be repatriated with the assistance of our embassy in South Africa,” she said.
Mrs Mafu Moyo said the Beitbridge quarantine centre can only accommodate 280 people and were also waiting for the national taskforce to finalise the logistics of moving thousands others to various provincial centres.
In addition, the facility can accommodate 70 people under isolation and has a dedicated Covid-19 clinic.
According to the Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Lovemore Matuke, the returnees will be screened upon arrival and transported to various provincial centres for quarantine. He said arrangements had already been made with ZUPCO to transport them to the respective centres, which will mainly be District Development Fund (DDF) and Public Service infrastructure.
The Deputy Minister said initially they had opted for schools, but decided on the alternative since it is not yet clear when the schools will open.
“We have already notified the various provincial taskforce teams on the latest development and they are seized with preparations to receive the people. At the moment, I cannot tell how many will go to which province, we will only know after screening upon arrival,” he said.
Online Reporter