Popcru demands tests and quarantine for prison officials

Popcru said staff wanted screening and testing for all those who had worked with or made contact with a positive person.
Popcru said staff wanted screening and testing for all those who had worked with or made contact with a positive person.
Image: 123RF/Stockstudio44

The Police, Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in the Eastern Cape is demanding that all correctional services (DCS) officials who have had contact with Covid-positive colleagues be tested and quarantined until they know their results.

DispatchLIVE understands a planned stayaway, scheduled to begin at 6am on Monday, was called off at the last minute after the department's regional management intervened and promised to meet the concerned employees' demands.

Popcru provincial leadership informed DispatchLIVE of the planned stayaway on Sunday night.

The department's regional office in Quigney, East London, where just under 100 staffers work, is closed for the second time in a month after a second official tested positive for Covid-19.

The office shut its doors on Friday and will remain closed until the  decontamination process is complete, said an employee in the building.

The worker asked to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation from management.

Before the second official tested positive, a directive from the national office, which DispatchLIVE has seen, stated that only 27 of the 92 officials should report for duty.

The directive was ignored, according to DispatchLIVE source.

“One of the members has now tested positive because the supervisors ignored a directive instructing that only 30% of the 90 officials should be at work at a given time. We complained that we should work according to the directive but that was ignored and now we have a positive case. If the management in this province continue as they do, our lives will be at greater risk,” said the employee.

Nxumalo said the offices were decontaminated by Monday and were again ready for use.

“Healthcare teams are on site, armed with appropriate personal protective equipment including goggles, gloves, masks and gowns, rendering care services to distress cases and monitoring those likely to develop acute respiratory challenges.”

“On May 5, 477 inmates were tested in East London. The first batch of results was received on May 11 confirming 103 positive cases and 78 negative, while 277 results remained outstanding. DCS is now able to confirm that 178 of the 277 inmates also tested positive, which illustrates the upturn in East London,” said Nxumalo.

Popcru's Zamikhaya Sikade said staff wanted screening and testing for all those who had worked with or made contact with a positive person.

They also should be quarantined immediately.

“When the first case was reported at Medium C (in East London) in the female section, protocol was followed and members were tested and others were quarantined. It was the same for the awaiting-trial prisoners. The question is why the protocol is no longer being followed,” said Sikade.

“We are engaging with management,” he told DispatchLIVE on Monday.

But correctional spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said they had no reports of workers wanting to stay away from work.

“We have checked with our members in East London, management and Popcru. At no point did the members threaten not to report for duty,” Nxumalo said.

“That would have been surprising, considering that ever since we've started our operations under Covid-19 we have been very transparent, working with organised labour and other structures in terms of strategy.”


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