adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
SOUTH African immigration officers at Beitbridge border post are reportedly turning away truck drivers plying the Democratic Republic of Congo route where two confirmed cases of Ebola have been reported.It is understood that on Thursday, the drivers mainly Zimbabweans, Congolese, Malawians and Zambians, were told to go back to the Zimbabwean side of the border for screening.
The South Africans turned the travellers away even though they had already been screened by Zimbabwean authorities.
Immigration officers at Beitbridge confirmed the development.
“We were shocked to see people being turned away on the South African border though they had passed the screening process at our Ebola port within the border post.
“The drivers were later allowed entry into South Africa after authorities from both countries held a meeting later on Thursday afternoon,” said one of the immigration officers.
South Africa’s Home Affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tswete did not respond to questions emailed to him yesterday.
A team of health experts led by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Gerald Gwinji, last week expressed satisfaction with the state of preparedness by the Beitbridge border authorities’ in dealing with a likely outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease.
A temporary Ebola monitoring and surveillance site has already been set up within the border post and an isolation site has also been set up at the International Organisation for Migration reception centre.
The IOM centre will be equipped with four beds and other key accessories including protective clothing for health workers. A total of 170,000 travellers pass through the Beitbridge border post per month.
derick.khumalo