Half-truths and lies about COVID-19 at Hermanus police station

LAND Party is disgusted by the misleading Statement from the Overberg Joint Operation and the head of police, Brigadier Heilbron, about the coronavirus case in Hermanus police station.

LAND Party will not allow apartheid-style policing and censorship to reign. This is a democratic country and the public has the right to know the full truth.

The LAND Party is extremely concerned that the Overstrand Municipality has still not established a Municipal Command Centre as directed by President Ramaphosa which is representative of the community which would effectively curb any lack of transparency. LAND Party has been approached by many community members who had direct contact with the member of SAPS who has contracted COVID-19 none of whom have been contacted or tested. This means that the statement issued stating that the coronavirus case at the Hermanus police station has been effectively dealt with is a blatant lie.

It is criminal to lie and mislead the public about what really happened in Hermanus Police Station. The majority of people who are using Hermanus Police Station are the people of Zwelihle, they are coming from densely populated areas like the Dubai and Marikana informal settlements and nobody, to date, has been screened or tested.

LAND Party asks for the immediate intervention of national government to quickly act and help the poor people of Zwelihle, who will be the victims of these lies and the apartheid-style policing of Hermanus.

LAND Party demand mass testing of the community starts as soon as possible. We are aware that the DA leadership in the province has been refusing to implement the national government strategy and it is for this reason we asked the COVID-19 evaluation national task team to be established. The task team will be an oversight task team that will ensure that all provinces comply with national government’s strategy to test all citizens.

We also ask the national police minister to quickly act and discipline those who misled the nation about the Hermanus police station coronavirus case. And we ask the minister to act swiftly with Hermanus police management which is working against the poor communities and lied to the nation.

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