Since the Covid 19 outbreak, the municipality, together with different government sectors, has established a Joint Operations Committee that is chaired by the Executive Mayor. The team also includes health practitioners, Army, South African Police Service, Rhodes University and the Sarah Baartman Disaster Management team and is sitting daily in the District Department of Health. All the reports from these meetings are submitted by the Mayor to the District Municipality Joint Operations Committee.
The purpose of the meeting is to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic within the Makana area of jurisdiction and to report to various government platforms and structures. Each department is required to give reports and weekly plans. The reports for the first week of lockdown were as follows:
Health Department
- The Department of Health is receiving numerous directives daily about Covid-19.
- Health promotion teams are currently conducting education and awareness in Hooggenoeg, Sun City and Joza.
- A tracing team has been established which is comprised of health care workers and health professionals to trace all suspected cases.
- Suspected cases will be confirmed once all information is verified.
- Weekly plan: during grants payment week, the department would conduct awareness campaigns at all pay points in Makana.
Rhodes University
- All students have been released and the University is under lockdown.
- Only Health, Security and IT are working during this period.
- A total of 38 postgraduate students are going on with their research programmes.
- Rhodes Pharmacy Department is manufacturing hand sanitiser.
- A total of 50 litres of hand sanitiser was donated by Rhodes Pharmacy to the Health Department.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
- No major incidents. In serious cases, Kirkwood EMS station has a specialised ambulance to assist with transportation.
MAKANA MUNICIPALITY
- Water and sanitation section staff are working.
- Electricity section are on standby for in case of emergency.
- Refuse removal are working for a few hours each day. The cleansing team will start in the morning and go home once collection round is completed. The normal daily removal collection schedule will be adhered to.
- Fire department is operating 24/7 during lockdown and the 24-hour customer care line is operational. In addition the Municipal Manager and four of his Directors’ cellphone numbers were made available in case of emergency.
- Traffic law enforcement officers / traffic officers are working throughout to assist SAPS and SANDF in roadblocks and traffic control daily.
- Media through the office of the Executive Mayor developed summarised pamphlets on Covid-19 in English, IsiXhosa and Afrikaans to be distributed to the communities. More is needed for education and awareness
- Health Inspectors have issued some notices in spaza shops and the updated funeral regulations to all funeral parlours in the Makana jurisdiction.
- The municipality will receive 90 Jojo tanks and two tankers from the Department of Water and Sanitation and have received 21 so far.
- Alicedale and Riebeeck East are still being rationed two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening due to the water shortage.
SANDF
- The army has been deployed in all areas in the Eastern Cape, including Makhanda.
- The base is experiencing water and electricity challenges and the Municipality will attend to the problem.
- Screening of members of the SANDF will commence this week. All deployed members will be given a screening questionnaire to detect any possible suspected cases.
SAPS
- The Police have had their hands full since lockdown began. The main challenge is that communities do not adhere to the lockdown regulations and children are roaming the streets. People claim to be going to the spaza shops. A request to investigate the regulation was made to the meeting to check if there is any regulation in place to manage spaza shops.
- Traditional ceremonies were also a challenge: communities were continuing with these.
- Alicedale is understaffed with only two SAPS members available for the entire community.
- Six people in Makkhanda had been arrested and fined in terms of the lockdown regulations.
SBDM –DISASTER MANAGEMENT
- The Satellite Senior Disaster Officer is servicing both JOC in Makana and Ndlambe LMs
- Alicedale communities were visited by the Disaster Management team and the Executive Mayor to conduct awareness.
- The challenge is the use of alcohol which results in people not to adhere to lockdown regulations.
SETTLERS HOSPITAL
- No major incidents report except the incident that related to one person outside the hospital taking a video regarding Covid-19.
- The department is in the process of sorting out an Isolation/ Quarantine area in case the need for isolation arises.
Let us all work together to save lives from this pandemic!
