The Rustenburg Local Municipality has joined hands with mining giant, Anglo American Platinum to establish a new quarantine site in Rustenburg. The move comes on the back of the increasing Covid-19 infections in the City and makes Rustenburg the Province’s hotspot, a reality which has beset the mining City for over 3 months, with no end in sight. To date Rustenburg has recorded 8646 cases with 4686 recoveries as at 02nd August 2020.
Most recorded cases are from the City’s local hotspots which are Rustenburg CBD, Tlhabane, Marikana, Sunrise Park and Freedom Park. The City through the interventions of the Executive Mayor has been at the fore-front of providing solutions as the pandemic continues to ravage the region, with serious socio-economic repercussions. Today, two Members of the Mayoral Committee (MMC’s) or Public Safety – Councillor Victoria Makhaula delegated as Executive Mayor and MMC for Community Development Councillor Nombulelo Xatasi, met with a delegation from Anglo American Platinum.
The purpose of the meeting, was to conduct an inspection in loco at the Municipality’s Ben Marais Hall. The Municipality had committed to availing facilities to assist with the establishment of a quarantine site, this comes from the strategic social partnership between the Municipality, other government departments and the mining sector known as the IGR Forum on Covid-19.
The team from Anglo, had brought technical personnel to assess the current state of the facility which will house Covid-19 patients, a team of medical practitioners as well as technical support staff to manage the centre which will be administered by the Department of Health. The quarantine site, will mitigate the existing gap where some Covid-19 patient, fail to self-quarantine thus compromising the safety of others through movements.
MMC Makhaula, said the Municipality remains committed to playing the necessary part in this multi-stakeholder collaboration to help the people of Rustenburg, especially those who have impacted directly by the virus. Ben Marais, has previously been used by the Municipality to house homeless people, at between March and May 2020. The facility which was managed by the Department of Social Development housed over 80 homeless people, who have since been relocated to Rustenburg Recreation Centre.
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