Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula is expected to convene an urgent meeting with shipping company MSC after more than 3 000 passengers disembarked one of their luxury cruise liners. The vessel was set to sail for Mozambique on Monday morning, a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced restrictions around COVID-19.
The luxury cruise liner MSC left the Durban port shortly after Ramaposa announced travel restrictions aimed at containing the spread of coronavirus.
In the video below, the MSC cruise ship arrives in Durban from Mozambique.
The tally of people infected with the COVID-19 virus stands at 202.
The ban also affected passenger ships who dock at the Durban harbour. The South African Marintime Authority says one of the vessels that was in Durban on Monday is in trouble with authorities for defying restrictions imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Acting CEO at the South African Maritime Safety Authority, Sobantu Tilayi, says the authority along with Mbalula will meet with MSC to demand clarity on the controversial departure of the vessel.
“We are going to have a discussion. I did say that the minister is on record sharing his displeasure at what had happened. MSC have their version of the story. We had said that it cannot be that the president pronounces and people do things that are seemingly against that pronouncement. So, there is a discussion. We are going to have an undertaking. I am now told that all the passengers have been disembarked.”
Tilayi says they had expected that disembarkation would take up to three days due to the rigorous screening processes passengers should have been subjected to.
“Those passengers are disembarked at batches of 100 each and upon disembarkation, each and every one of the passengers go through the screening process. We have, through port health and the South African polices service, to make sure that we record a video footage for all of the operations that took place and we also have received the onward traveling arrangement for each one of the passengers to make sure that we can track trace each one of the passengers should there be any need to do so.”
Port authorities prevented the media from speaking with passengers from the MSC. Attempts to get comment from MSC were unsuccessful.
In the video below, KZN Premier defends MSC Orchestra’s decision to leave Durban shores:
