A malicious statement circulating about bananas and the Ministry of Health
It has come to the attention of the National Department of Health since yesterday afternoon, that there is a statement circulating on social media, in particular WhatsApp, attributed to the Ministry of Health, supposedly advising the South African citizens ‘not to buy or eat from supermarkets in Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria’. The statement is untrue, malicious, and diabolic. It is designed to cause unnecessary panic to the public.
We want to state clearly that there was never such warning posted on our website. There are procedures in place to ensure that information placed on our website is accurate and verified by authorised officials of the department. Matters of such public health magnitude are not dealt with simply by releasing a press statement. The Ministry of Health would have convened a media conference to thoroughly inform the public about the risk.
Incidentally, it is not the first time that such rumours have made their way to the public infospace. The department has always been quick to dispel misleading information. In this case, the source of this disinformation has been identified as http://www.imzansi.com/KWjYZ/.
The Ministry of Health urges the public to ignore the statement. The public must be assured that it is the responsibility of the department to inform the public about any potential risk to their health.
Enquiries:
Joe Maila
Cell: 082 887 3581
Popo Maja
Cell: 072 585 3219
