Gweru residents have been left seething with anger after 18 returnees escaped from Mkoba Teachers’ College COVID-19 quarantine centre, amid indications that some of them are ex-convicts from South African prisons.
Gweru Residents and Ratepayers’ Association Director, Cornelia Selipiwe has demanded that the government should put in place measures to deter inmates from escaping in order to prevent a recurring of such incidents. He said:
After having been in lockdown for over 60 days, some people decide to escape. This will cause unnecessary panic and it is very sad. The president needs to put serious security measures in these quarantine places.
We do not want to treat them like prisoners but their behaviour is asking for more.
It will not be wrong for the president to treat them as prisoners because after all the gains we have made washing our hands and keeping hygienic practices someone decides to run away risking us all and we cannot afford this because this pandemic is serious.
Meanwhile, Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Larry Mavhima told ZBC News that the COVID-19 provincial task force is now beefing up security at quarantine centres.