Seven members of his family also tested positive for the virus.
Gert Sibande YCL leader Ayanda Mashaba has revealed he spent 14 days in quarantine, after he tested positive for Covid-19.
His wife Sindisiwe Sibeko, a former regional treasurer of the SACP in the region, is also currently in isolation while 6 members of Mashaba’s family are recovering.
Mashaba said it started as flu, giving him sleepless nights as he sweated and felt pains in his throat – within a space of a week it had progressed into a serious cough accompanied by shortness of breath.
He said he was released the past weekend, having spent 14 days at a quarantine site in Mbombela.
“I have recovered but the past 3 weeks were difficult and I thank God to have come out alive from that situation, this thing is serious and can really kill a person,” he said Wednesday morning this week 15 July when he spoke to 013NEWS.
He said a week after feeling sick he decided to call Zonke Sibande, a nurse who leads the Covid-19 team in the Pixley ka Seme local municipality, and “she came to test me at home” on 23 June 2020.
“On 28 June the results came and showed I was positive.
“I was taken to Mbombela where I was treated for 14 days,” he said, adding he was released on 12 July 2020.
Mashaba said he doesn’t know how he got the virus.
He says he believes living in Pixley ka Seme local municipality, where the numbers of infected people were high, he could’ve gotten it “anyhow”.
“Perhaps I went to a shop or someone amongst my family members had it already and I got it, I’m not sure how I got it. You can get it anyhow and that thing is not a joke it’s real,” he said.
Mashaba said he wishes to thank the Covid-19 team led by Zonke Sibande for being there for everyone in need of help, including the help his own family got, and putting their lives at risk in the process of saving other people’s lives.
(edited by ZK)
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