Staff Writer
Government says foreign nationals from the passenger cruise liner which docked at the port of Walvis Bay on Friday will all be repatriated to their countries and not allowed uncontrolled entry into Namibia. They will not pose any threat to on-going government efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
The Carnival Fascination passenger cruise liner was finally allowed to dock at the port of Walvis Bay on Friday after days of being refused permission to do so.
The development saw over 189 crew members made up of Zimbabwean and Namibian nationals being allowed to disembark from the cruise liner.
“The arrangements made are that the vessel will dock. With strict control measures, passengers disembark, get into buses that will take them directly to the airport and they will fly to their country,” Executive Director in the Ministry of Health, Ben Nangombe told Windhoek Observer.
“According to the arrangement, they will not interact or enter Namibia per se and this will be enforced under strict control measures put in place by the Ministry of Health and Social Services together with law enforcement agencies. This was done flawlessly. This operation was completed together with Namport, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Works and Transport Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation and MOHSS. In any case, these are people that have been on the high seas for a long time and there have been no illnesses among them.”
Asked why Namibia agreed for the vessel to dock after denial from other countries, he said, “As much as we are in lockdown, Namibia is a member of the international community and we have an obligation to assist. Zimbabwe is landlocked, but it is sea-linked through Namibia.”
According to port officials, government granted the approval for the vessel to dock amid a ban on passenger vessel arrivals at the port due to the government imposed lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
“The vessel docked at the port after government approval and the Ministry of International Relations and the Ministry of Health were involved,” Namport Executive: Commercial Immanuel Tino !Hanabeb told the Windhoek Observer.
The disembarkation of the crew in Namibia according to media reports comes after South Africa refused other foreign nationals on the vessel to leave, only accepting its nationals.
By Friday afternoon, a group of Zimbabwean nationals had been transported to the Walvis Bay International Airport to be repatriated to their country.
