The outbreak of Coronavirus in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province has attracted global attention including South Africa. Ambassador of China to South Africa, His Excellency Lin Songtian will host a media briefing in Pretoria on Monday morning, to update the South African communities on the latest situation regarding the outbreak and particularly how the People’s Republic of China has responded to fight the virus.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants the National Assembly to schedule a debate of national importance to discuss the deadly Coronavirus and other pandemics.
DA MP and Spokesperson on Health, Siviwe Gwarube says the debate is not what she calls, – an ‘alarmist tool’, but can assist South Africa to proactively deal with the challenge.
Gwarube says she will invoke National Assembly Rule 130 to call for an urgent debate as soon as possible.
In a statement Gwarube says the debate will afford Health Minister Zweli Mkhize to address Parliament and the nation on the readiness of the Health Department to deal with the global pandemic.
She says this will also ensure that Parliament is at the centre of finding solutions to the challenges facing South Africa in the light of the pandemic. Gwarube says now that a patient has been identified as infected with the virus in Botswana, – it effectively means that the virus is already at South African borders.
She says it’s important that International Relations and Co-operations Minister Naledi Pandor accompanies Mkhize when the Health Minister addresses the nation so that citizens should know what the two departments are doing to address the matter.
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