BAGCUGCUTELI, OTHERS TO ISSUE TRAVEL PERMITS

MBABANE - EmaSwati will be required to get approval from caregivers, inner council tindvuna and zone leaders before they can travel from one town to another amid the strengthened partial lockdown.

The aforementioned officials would be authorised by regional administrators to approve travels in order to minimise unnecessary movements during the partial lockdown.

The restriction on travel is aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, a disease which has killed many people across the globe.
Eswatini has tightened screws after government observed laxity in some people during the partial lockdown.
People were going to town and spending the whole day doing nothing.

Distancing

Some failed to mantain social distancing while interacting with others. Others have been seen hugging each other after the partial lockdown came into effect.
In an interview with Manzini Regional Administrator (RA) Chief Gija, he said the exercise was not aimed at frustrating emaSwati but to demonstrate the importance of minimising travel, which exposed people to contracting and spreading the virus.

Asked about the logistics, the chief said the transport department would design a travel form and send it to the regional offices across the country. He said the regional offices would then distribute the forms to all the authorised officials.

Emergencies

“The public will have to engage the officials prior to travelling except if there are emergencies. It is during the engagement that the officials would see if the individuals have valid reasons to move from one place to another. If the officials approve the travel, they will issue letters of approval and those letters will be produced to the security personnel who have been deployed to enforce the regulations,” he said.

This, the chief said, would apply to those whose travel would not be related to work. It is understood that employees providing essential services would be getting letters from their employers.

The chief said the travel could be for medical checkups, buying food, attending funerals among other things. The chief added that the security personnel would not be turning a blind eye to those who would be travelling without approval letters from the authorised officials.
The chief said the officials would also liaise with the transport operators if there was a need to transport people.

Reasons

He said it had been observed that some people moved up and down without valid reasons, something which he said increased chances of contracting and spreading the virus.

Meanwhile, Lubombo RA Themba Msibi said the region was yet to meet the COVID-19 Task Team concerning the new developments. Msibi said he was yet to see which other officials to assign to work on their behalf because the RA was engaged in other commitments, such as providing clean water and bringing awareness to the people.

“We were used to the old system where public transport stopped operating from 9am until 3pm. However, we are yet to meet over the new developments,” he said.

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