ZimEye is receiving feedback in Zambia that the truckers stranded in that country since the weekend into Monday and were filmed on camera alleging they are being drugged, have finally been released following the ZimEye story.

This is a developing story and below is a short report from one of the whistleblowers (unedited):

Thanx Simba – the Situation has changed after that story. They now said they will put requirements before truckers come to Zambia and some drivers who were in Quarantine were brought back by bus to their trucks yesterday. May God Bless you always. I even have their Memo/Minutes for the Zambia authorities after they have a Meeting. You saved lives there my brother.

Keep the good work.

-REFRESH THIS PAGE FOR THE UPDATE-

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE STAKEHOLDERS’ BRIEFING BY THE MINISTER OF HEALTH HON. DR. CHITALU CHILUFYA, MP AND THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT & COMMUNICATIONS HON. MUTOTWE KAFWAYA, MP HELD ON SUNDAY 5th APRIL 2020 AT 09:30HRS

The following are the highlights of the stakeholders briefing: –

a. The Minister of Health emphasised that Zambia was in a “State of Public Health Emergency” because of the COVID 19 pandemic.

b. That Zambia was implementing a robust “scalable response plan” to COVID 19, in which a multi-stakeholder approach was required in the fight against the COVID 19 pandemic.

c. The quarantining of truck drivers at Kazungula and Livingstone/Vic Falls border posts over the past few days has been worrisome to the Government and something needed to be done about it.

d. As a result, the Government decided to relocate the quarantined drivers from the border posts to Lusaka where drivers will continue with their quarantining programme in accordance with Statutory Instrument (S.I.) No. 22 of 2020. Trucks are being parked at Makeni Dry Port and Heroes Stadium. Transport companies affected are allowed to send relief drivers to pick up the trucks subject to the cabins being sanitized by the MOH.

e. Quarantine period to commence from date of arrival in Zambia, therefore those drivers that have spent days at border quarantine facilities, will have their days at UNZA reduced accordingly.

f. That as at 4 April 2020, 146 trucks had been escorted from the border posts to Lusaka. 57 of these are parked at the Makeni Dry Port and the balance at Heroes’ Stadium in Lusaka.

g. Drivers had been taken to the University of Zambia (UNZA) School of Veterinary Services, which has been turned into an approved Public Quarantine Facility.

h. The Government, through the Lusaka Province Administration, provided temporary catering services for the quarantined drivers.

i. Drivers for refrigerated trucks had requested that they be left to sleep in their trucks for the purpose of ensuring that the temperature is maintained at correct levels to avoid products going to waste.

j. Another 57 trucks left Livingstone for Lusaka this morning (5 April 2020) under Police escort.

k. The biggest challenge at the moment was the welfare of drivers. That truck owners and employers of the quarantined drivers needed to take care of these drivers during the quarantine period as the mandatory quarantining was not sustainable to the Government.

l. Going forward, Government plans to: (truncated).