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By Mayibongwe Maqhina 
12h ago
Cape Town: 253 South African Police Service officers tested positive for Covid-19, Police Minister Bheki Cele said on Friday.
Reporting on a joint meeting of parliamentary committees, Cele said 178 positive policemen were from the Western Cape alone, and the remaining 75 were from the other eight provinces.
Cele said the Eastern Cape had 13 positive cases, Gauteng, 11, KwaZulu-Natal, eight, and the other five provinces registered few numbers.
He said the SAPS administration was equally concerned about the increasing number of infected officers.
Cele said there was a national steering committee for the containment and management of the pandemic in the police service.
“The committee developed protocols and SAPS members are screened daily according to Department of Health protocols.
“Where positive cases have been reported, all members in direct contact are tested and immediately quarantined,” he added.
Cele spoke to parliamentarians about fear that SAPS members would contract diseases, as they now searched for coffins as more people used them to hide alcohol and drugs, among other things.
He said that people claimed to be on their way to funerals with coffins filled with dagga or alcohol.
“It is a serious challenge. Coffins have to be opened because there are drugs and alcohol,” Cele said.
“It puts our members in danger of becoming infected with the disease while doing their job,” he said.
Political Bureau
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