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He said he was appalled at a front-page article in Saturday’s “Argus Weekend” titled: “Fears of Homeless Outbreak.”
Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato. Image: @ CityofCT / Twitter.
CAPE TOWN – Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato said the municipality would file a criminal complaint against Independent Media and the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.
He said he was appalled at a front-page article published Saturday. Weekend Argus under the title: “Fears of the outbreak of homeless people”.
Plato said the article led members of the public to believe that nine law enforcement officers have infected the homeless at the Strandfontein temporary shelter and that the homeless were now being released to infect the population.
Plato has emphasized that these were false, blatantly malicious and irresponsible reports, which were nothing more than a display of fear and an attempt to spread panic among residents.
He said earlier this week, two staff members who temporarily attended the Joint Operations Center in Strandfontein tested positive for COVID-19 on separate occasions.
Plato stated that they never had contact with homeless people on the premises as the center was separate and fenced from the living areas and was not open to any residents or service providers on site.
The center was closed; On Monday it was thoroughly cleaned and decontaminated and was operational two days later.
Officials who had contact with the two members were also immediately isolated and evaluated, and their results were negative.
The mayor said the article further alleged that the COVID-19 test had not been performed on homeless people, however, he insisted that every homeless person has been examined at least twice.
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