Millions of Zimbabweans, both documented and not are bitter after the South African government revealed it was excluding foreigners from its Covid-19 vaccine rollout plan.
A plane landed in Pretoria last night with millions of doses for South Africans who are looking forward to being inoculated as Covid-19 continues to scourge the country.
In a statement, the country’s Minister of Health Dr Mkhize seemed to sideline both documented and illegal foreigners from the immunisation plan.
“All you need when you go [to a vaccination centre is to show that you have got an ID, you are a South African registered voter,” Dr Mkhize said.
This has left so many bitter and uncertain of their fate in the fight against coronavirus.
According to the country’s stats, South Africa is home to millions of illegal foreigners. There are more undocumented Zimbabweans living in that county than those legally staying there.
“For those who are undocumented, we are not able to deal with that because at the moment we would like to be able to deal with people based on the South African registration. So at this point, we have no plan to deal with those that are not documented, ” South Africa’s Health minister added as he emphasised on illegal foreigners.
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| SA Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout Plan |
Some even calling the minister’s statements unconstitutional.
If legal foreigners in the county get inoculated – excluding the rest, it “will only complicate the already formidable war against the coronavirus pandemic, ” Rights groups have been quoted saying.
South Africa is currently the hardest-hit country in Sub Sahara region with over 1.4 million Covid-19 infection cases and 44,000 deaths.
Today on Monday, President Ramaphosa is expected to hand over the first batch of AstraZeneca – Oxford vaccines that are meant for front line workers.
