By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha says they have deployed tracers across all wards in the province in quest to fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
Sambatha said his department will be working in partnership with the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) and the North West Community Safety and Transport Management.
“This programme we are launching is the transportation of tracers across the province. It’s a minimum of 95 taxis, for now. They are meant to spread across the province. They will be transporting tracers per ward, which is a minimum of 10 and it’s around a maximum of 40 in each ward.
“They will be transported on the basis of the door-to-door tracing and also on the basis of community awareness campaigns. They will then link those that are traced to quarantine and isolation facilities. It’s meant to ensure that the department responds vibrantly in a ward where people are,” he said.
Sambatha further said the initiative will limit the movement of people who are unaware of the dangers they are posing to themselves.
Meanwhile, the North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Sello Lehari said: “The partnership with the taxi industry will assist in the fight against COVID-19. We value the partnership that we are launching today with our taxi industry. This initiative will indeed assist the province in ending this pandemic.”
SANTACO’s provincial chairperson, Herman Sebegwe welcomed the programme. Sebegwe said the taxi sector is ready to provide transport as it is a requirement. He said it is expected from them as the industry and the initiative came at the right time.
“Most of our long-distance operators have been negatively affected by COVID-19 because even now they are not able to operate at full taxi capacity,” said Sebegwe.
The Guardian 