Health MEC ‘unaware’ of Cala quarantine site

Eastern Cape health MEC Sindiswa Gomba has denied knowing that 14 Cala residents were being quarantined at a lodge in the area.

Gomba was responding to questions at a press conference about reports that 14 people who had tested positive for Covid-19 were being quarantined at the Mioca Lodge in the Emalahleni municipal region.

On April 16, UDM leader Bantu Holomisa tweeted: "#ComradesInCorruption are at it again. Sakhisizwe Civil Society Structures Forum gravely concerned about the EC Provincial Executive’s decision to quarantine 18 suspected #COVID_19 patients in #MiocaLodge , #Cala. This lodge is owned by MEC Weziwe Tikana-Gxhotiwe. Makagxothwe! [loosely translated: she must be fired]".

Tikana-Gxhotiwe, who is transport MEC, has denied having any shares or interest in the lodge, saying it was owned by her daughter.

As of April 16, the Chris Hani District municipality — which Emalahleni falls under — had 21 registered Covid-19 cases.

Gomba asked journalists to trust that she was completely unaware of the quarantine site.

“As the department of health we heard the story equally as you heard it. The only thing that got to me was a call from mayor [Nontombizanele] Koni who said they've got issues similar to PE and Port St Johns in terms of a funeral and out of that there were people who had tested positive.

“She was asking for a quarantine site and I said fine but why a quarantine site if they are already positive. People who are quarantined are those you want to test so that you can be sure you're able to release them on the basis they are positive or negative.

“When they are positive, it is only then you're able to take them to isolation, whether self-isolation or confined. In terms of protocols we isolate those who are sickly and those who justify they don’t have space to isolate at home. Our first case was a confined isolation case in Emadwaleni.

“I directed Koni to speak to the district manager and that was where I left the issue. When I actually called back to check on the issue, I found that there was a gap in that district in understanding how to deal with the issue.

“The next I know is that people have already been put up,” Gomba said.

Gomba said President Cyril Ramaphosa had said the department of public works should deal with issues of accommodation and ensuring enough space outside of hospital.

The provincial department of health has identified 2,000 beds around the province, 240 which are ICU beds.

In a statement on Friday, Tikana-Gxhothiwe confirmed there were 14 people temporarily quarantined at Mioca bed and breakfast while health officials were looking for a permanent solution.

Tikana-Gxhothiwe's spokesperson Unathi Binqose said the lodge was owned by the MEC’s daughter.

“Tikana-Gxothiwe had no knowledge of the arrangement until she caught up with the social media storm it caused.

“She would like to refer all inquiries on this matter to public works and health department authorities as they are better positioned to provide details on the processes followed,” Binqose said.

Meanwhile, Koni said the municipality had exhausted all other options  for finding a quarantine venue for all Covid-19 cases in the municipal region.

“We went to Glen Grey Hospital and it only had two beds in the section for men. Even with those two beds, people had to pass other patients to get to toilets, which would risk infection.

“Frontier Hospital in Komani was not ready as patients had not been moved to make isolation space available for coronavirus patients.

“Whittlesea Hospital had four beds available but the same issue as Glen Grey in terms of possible transmission would also be a problem,” Koni said.

The Emalahleni mayor said the municipality understood what quarantine meant but it had no choice but to isolate those who were positive as they risked infecting the rest of the community.

“We're in the rural areas here. The results of some of the people came back on Saturday and Sunday. When we looked in on them on Sunday and Monday, we found some had taken taxis into Komani, hiked to stores and went about the community not wearing masks.

“In another situation we had a cattle herder where we needed to involve the police because he said he was not sick and would not be confined to his house.

“After exhausting all other options, the MEC of public works [Babalo Madikizela] said we should go to Mioca because all the other B & that had signed up to quarantine people had pulled out or were not ready,” Koni said.

Madikizela said the department had ensured there would be quarantine sites in every municipality.

“We've got both private and public isolation sites. Unfortunately there is no formula here because you have guest house owners, student accommodation owners who had signed up to quarantine sites but had either pulled out or were not ready,” he said.

Madikizela said he did not have a list on hand of the sites identified in Emalahleni but said Mioca could have been one of the sites identified by his department.