Although health ministry officials were yet to issue an official response, a health official said more than 50 Zimbabwean nationals remained stranded at SA hospitals.
“There are also others who end up dying and being buried here because we fail to get in touch with their relatives,” said a health official last week. “Most of the patients who find themselves in that state are elderly women, but we also have middle-aged men and women with mental problems, whose relatives we also fail to trace.”
A social worker with Pretoria-based Tshwane Rehabilitation Hospital, Suzan Ledwaba, recently contacted this paper with pleas for families of Eslina Mabena and Tongai Maruvamba, to get in touch urgently.
Mabena (90) was admitted at Tshwane rehabilitation hospital for intensive physical rehabilitation, after she suffered stroke. “During the interviews, Ms. Mabena, mentioned that she came from Gokwe, under chief Chireya Sivalo Mahlangu and Chief Khumalo,” said the social worker.
Apparently suffering memory loss, she also indicated that she had been in Motobo District, where she used to go to Mbebeswana Hospital. She was not clear how she came to South Africa, saying only that she had come to bury her son. Her picture has been published in a local paper, but with no positive response from her relatives.
Maruvamba was admitted at the same hospital in May. He comes from Tagarika village (Midlands), under Chief Esapo Jangari. His parents are deceased and he does not have siblings, being the only child. He was raised by his aunt, who still lives in Tagarika. His cousin is said to be Gunjashe. Maruvamba attended Chamakanda Combined School and Mkoba. He is fully rehabilitated and wants to go home. – If you have any information that could help, please contact the Editor: Mbanga@thezimbabwean.co.uk
Post published in: News