Chaos erupted yesterday after reports were received of a man, that allegedly claimed he tested positive for Covid-19, walking around in the Middelburg Mall.

A Middelburg Mall security guard tended the scene and spoke to www.mobserver.co.za about the events. He said that upon his arrival at Pick ‘n Pay he encountered the man who staff members and members of the public claimed made the allegations.

The  man denied making the allegations but the guard contacted the police. According to him, no one was willing to give a statement, and that the man was escorted off the mall’s premises and let go.

He was later traced by police to his house in a mine village outside Middelburg and brought to the Middelburg Provincial Hospital. He was screened and found not to have any Covid-19 symptoms but was admitted for other conditions.

The family of the man told www.mobserver.co.za that their father was brought to Middelburg by a friend who often gives him a lift. He cannot drive himself because his one leg is amputated. He was dropped off at the Middelburg Mall to withdraw his disability grant and do some shopping.

They say that whilst innocently browsing through goods at Pick ‘n Pay, he was approached by a man taking a video, accusing him of being dirty and asking if he has been tested.

The video, which www.mobserver.co.za has seen, shows how the man taking the video tells the older man to “stop touching everything because he is contaminating” it.

The daughter of the man denied that he was escorted off the premises by police. She said that the same person who dropped him off at the mall, told her that he walked into the store and picked up her father without any trouble and took him back to his house.

“The man taking the video is the aggressor. He harassed my dad. Nowhere in the video can you hear my dad saying anything about corona. What you can hear is how my father is asking the man to stop harassing him and also to call the police because of the harassment,” the daughter said.