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The group was stranded for hours on the runway at OR Tambo International Airport on Monday.
FILE: The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Hon. Patricia De Lille, in Parliament on July 10, 2019. Image: @ DepPublicWorks / Twitter
JOHANNESBURG – The Minister of Public Works, Patricia de Lille, confirmed on Tuesday to Eyewitness News that another group of South Africans who were repatriated from the United States on Sunday fell victim to what she called “a scam” when they were taken to the wrong places for their isolation, left without food for hours and confiscated the keys to their room.
Some unemployed South Africans who used to work at the temporarily closed Walt Disney World Resort in Florida said they were taken to a building owned by Eskom, which had no electricity.
This particular group was separate from the one that also landed in the United States on Monday night.
The 245 people, which included the Walt Disney group, arrived on Sunday and were supposed to stay in two hotels in Johannesburg for quarantine.
Those establishments had already been acquired by the Department of Public Works and prepared for isolation, but instead, travelers never came to those facilities.
De Lille’s department is now investigating what went wrong.
“Two officials: one in the Department of Health and the other in the Department of Public Works, diverted people from hotels that were acquired for public works without authorization from the Department of Public Works,” said the minister.
Two capetonianos friends began the work of their dreams in Walt Disney World Resort in Florida in February, but everything was interrupted by the blockades imposed by COVID-19.
Leora Nates and Christine Runkel, who found themselves unemployed, were eventually repatriated and arrived in South Africa on Sunday.
But their problems were far from over and what they described as a nightmare unfolded.
Nates said they were treated inhumanely, were left without food or water for 15 hours, and had no communication with their families.
“There was no electricity in that building. They took us to a secondary facility. [and] officials had no idea we were going. They finally got water and snacks, but they didn’t have enough, “he said.
Meanwhile, Runkel said she had not had access to her luggage, which she desperately needed for her asthma pump.
“We had no contact with our families and no one seemed to want to help us … we are really scared, they didn’t give us food or water,” he said.
While both women waited for the results of their COVID-19 tests, they remained in the dark about how long they would have to remain in their quarantine site without preparation.
NOT OUR FAILURE
De Lille also blamed the Department of Health for not giving them enough time to prepare accommodation for some 200 South Africans repatriated from the United States.
The group was stranded for hours on the runway at OR Tambo International Airport on Monday.
De Lille said his department needed at least 72 hours to ensure that all procurement procedures were properly followed before people could be housed in quarantine sites.
The minister said he was only informed of the group’s arrival on Monday morning, just seven hours before they landed.
“Now I have called a meeting with the minister of health. In fact, I sent him a letter last night saying, ‘This is not appropriate, you cannot expect us to break the law by calling us at 10 am or sending an email to say that more than 300 people have arrived,’ “Lille said. .
The group only went to their hotel rooms at 8pm on Monday night after arriving at 5pm.
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