Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has tested positive for COVID-19.
File Photo: John Wessels/AFP
Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has tested positive for COVID-19.
File Photo: John Wessels/AFP
South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has revealed that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
The 57-year-old said that he had taken the matter lightly and hadn’t expected to contract the virus, adding he was unsure where he could have caught it.
“I have no idea where I contracted it. All I had was the flu from Friday and it got worse by Saturday and Sunday. So yesterday, I went to test, just to be on the safe side — not that I had any of the big symptoms. I just felt a little bit down and out of my strides. I wasn’t expecting to test positive, but here we are,” Vavi said.
“The last thing I was expecting was to test positive. And it shows you the reason why this thing is so dangerous — because you take it lightly.”
He said that he was in good heath despite the result.
“Even now, I feel absolutely fine and better than any other day of the past five days and (yet) they called to say ‘you are positive, you must go into self-isolation’,” he said.
Vavi housebound since Friday
He said that he had been housebound since the nationwide lockdown came into effect on 27 March, and had only had contact with his family.
He added that he had tried to get himself tested earlier, but was turned away because he was not manifesting any of the typical symptoms at the time.
This is a developing story.
