Chronicle Editor
Raymond Jaravaza, Showbiz Correspondent
SONGOLO Mathe had sleepless nights when he learnt that a relative would be returning from South Africa using one of the many illegal entry points dotted along the porous border separating Zimbabwe from its southern neighbour.
Mathe’s concern for his health and that of his family was well understandable.
After all, the relative making his way from South Africa — the continent’s Covid-19 hotspot with over 52 000 confirmed cases — was trying to outsmart the authorities by evading the mandatory 21-day quarantine for all returnees.
For a man employed at Chronicle — the region’s biggest daily newspaper — stories that make news headlines in Bulawayo and the country are a click away from his fingertips and he knew right away that something was amiss with the imminent arrival of an undocumented returnee.
The relative that was coming into the country illegally was his cousin’s son, but that didn’t matter.
He was worried about the consequences of harbouring an undocumented returnee, who under normal circumstances would have to be in the hands of health authorities the moment he crossed the border.
This is his story.
“My cousin has a son based in South Africa who wasn’t feeling well and a decision was made that he comes back and recuperate from home, which was good idea seeing that he would be better taken care of by his loved ones.
“The only problem was that I later learnt that the guy would be coming home from South Africa, not through the formal channels at the border, but with the help of omalayitsha (cross-border transporters) through illegal border entry points.
“The thought of him coming to stay at my house without testing for coronavirus and potentially putting my family at risk of contracting the virus did not sit well with me,” Mathe narrated to Saturday Leisure.
Mathe’s cousin with the assistance of omalayitsha had arranged for her son, in his late 20s to be dropped off in Makokoba suburb, stay there for a while and later proceed to Victoria Falls.
Covid-19 health protocols dictate that anyone coming into the country must be placed under mandatory quarantine at various centres such as the United College of Education (UCE) and tested for the virus to avoid spreading it in the communities. Of late there have been cases of returnees escaping from quarantine facilities, leaving authorities scrabbling to track them down before the escapees, if positive for Covid-19, spread the novel virus with impunity.
Mathe had been reading reports of such incidents in the Chronicle and wasn’t about to aid and abate an undocumented returnee, even if the man was his relative.
He said he tried talking sense into his cousin to take her son into a health facility for quarantine and Covid-19 testing, but she would have none of it.
He was left with no choice, but to alert the authorities hoping the police, with the assistance of health personnel, would detain the undocumented returnee and place him under quarantine as dictated by the law.
But his concerns to officers at the Bulawayo Central Police Station fell on deaf ears, he said.
“I went to the Bulawayo Central Police Station and narrated my story to an officer at the front desk that my relative was a few hours from entering Bulawayo aboard a South African registered vehicle that belonged to omalayitsha, but found no joy.
“I was referred to one to the top officers (name supplied) who told me that they had no fuel to make a follow up of the vehicle, which I had been told was carrying not only my relative, but other undocumented returnees as well that had come into the country illegally,” he said.
It’s been over a week since the undocumented returnee sneaked into the country and Mathe has no qualms with trying to alert the authorities, although without success, on the presence of a relative who decided to beat the system and throw all health protocols out of the window.
The threat of Covid-19 is real and everyone must play their part in efforts to slow the spread of the virus, he said.
The country has to date, recorded 314 cases, with four deaths and 46 recoveries.
In Emakhandeni suburb, a different story played out when an older woman and her grandchild sneaked into the suburb last month from South Africa.
Anele Mthunzi, whose neighbours call her NaSandra, lasted just three days in her home from South Africa before residents alerted the police.
The granny had sneaked into Bulawayo with her grandson after a visit from the neighbouring country before the Covid-19 pandemic forced governments to shut down borders and impose total lockdowns.
“I’d been hearing rumours that NaSandra was back from South Africa with her grandson, but laying low in her home. One morning she was picked up by officers from Entumbane Police Station and we hear she is at a quarantine centre together with the little boy.
“I have no idea who called the police. It’s been over two weeks since they were picked up,” a neighbour told Saturday Leisure.
On Thursday, Chronicle carried an article where the police released the figures of returnees that have escaped from quarantine centres. 169 people have escaped from centres countrywide with 11 from Bulawayo making a dash for it from either UCE or the Bulawayo Polytechnic.
Authorities are urging residents not to harbour escapees as that puts the city at great risk of Covid-19.
“Bulawayo province currently has a total number of 11 escapees from quarantine centres. We have a problem with Matabeleland South due to its proximity to the border to South Africa. Ninety five returnees have so far escaped from quarantine centres there.
“This poses a challenge as the country is trying to curb the spread of Covid-19 as the number of cases are going up,” said national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi. — @RaymondJaravaza.
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