Soldiers to assist in Garden Route Covid hotspot
The need for the army's assistance was identified at the beginning of December as there is a shortage of manpower in both the police and municipal law enforcement agencies in the area due to Covid-19 cases.
(File image) SANDF members assist queuing recipients of the R350 unemployment grant in Orlando Soweto, 8 July 2020. SANDF was called in to assist after community members threatened to burn down the post office over long queues and unanswered questions about when the grant would be received. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark
Forty soldiers – two groups of 20 each – will arrive in the Garden Route on Tuesday 5 January and will be deployed to different areas the following day, Wednesday 6 January.
This will be the army’s second visit to the Garden Route during the Covid-10 pandemic.
They were also deployed in the area during the first peak period of the pandemic in June and July of 2020.
According to the head of Disaster Management in Geroge, Gerhard Otto, one group will be housed in the Jewish Camp in Hartenbos and will cover the areas in Hartenbos, Mossel Bay, and Hessequa.
The second group will remain in Swartvlei and provide assistance to Knysna and Plettenberg Bay.
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Otto said the army’s help was welcomed and would be utilised “as needed.”
He said the need for the army’s assistance was identified at the beginning of December as there is a shortage of manpower in both the police and municipal law enforcement agencies in the area due to Covid-19 cases.
The Garden Route was one of the country’s first hotspot areas during the second wave for the Covid-19 pandemic with all beaches closed even ahead of the country’s move to amended level 3 lockdown regulations.
This article was republished from the George Rekord, with permission.
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