3 flee from Mutare quarantine centre

MANICALAND Provincial Affairs minister Ellen Gwaradzimba has blamed the security forces for slackening in the execution of their duties, which has resulted in three people fleeing from a quarantine centre in the eastern border city.

She made the remarks at Mutare Provincial Hospital where Higher Life Foundation donated personal protective clothing worth thousands of dollars to the referral institution.

She said the three were border jumpers who were arrested by the Mozambique security forces on their way to that country.

“This, indeed, is true that there were three returnees who were held at Mary Mount Teachers' College who escaped from the quarantine centre. Yes, they escaped at night because, I am told, the windows have no burglar bars and there was no perimeter fence at the back of the hostel,” she said.

“After investigation by our security forces, it was discovered that the information of the returnees on the bio data was false, especially the residential addresses. When security forces tried to make a follow-up, it was a plain ground without structures.

“They were apprehended by Mozambique security authorities before they entered that country and handed over to our security, luckily they do not have any contact with some people outside Zimbabwe, because our cases have been mostly coming out of the country,” added Gwaradzimba.

“We regard these people as criminal elements, our security forces are on the hunt for these people and for sure the law is not going to be kind to such people,” she said.

“They escaped a day after they were quarantined. In this incident, we slackened on the part of our security forces and it is a learning curve. It means, from now going forward, we are going to be vigilant and not make that mistake again.”