Kaya FM has temporarily closed its doors due to confirmed coronavirus cases among staff members.
In a statement published on their official website and social media platforms, the station has informed its listeners that the management has taken the decision to immediately close its premises, due to a confirmed Covid-19 case amongst staff.
“Our company of 97 employees have been informed, and we as a company are managing the potential for further exposure pending the results of other employee’s tests," read the statement.
The statement further advised that as a precautionary measure, “the Kaya FM building will be temporarily closed while a deep cleansing process is carried out until further notice.”
In addition, the statement stated that: “Essential staff members have been advised to self-isolate and quarantine while working from home. The company is facilitating testing for staff members and contact tracing for those who may have been exposed to anyone with positive results.”
From the beginning of the national lockdown, Kaya FM revealed the station took additional measures to ensure they safeguard the health of their employees and preserve their ability to operate. Management implemented a rotational system to only allow essential workers into the building, and presenters like Thabo “Tbose” Mokwele have been presenting their shows from home.
Commenting on the decision to close the station's offices, Kaya FM’s Managing Director, Greg Maloka, said: “I have every confidence in the protocols that have been put in place by our management team, and our teams’ superior capabilities to ensure the safety of our employees without interrupting our ability to broadcast the latest updates to Afropolitans.
"The Kaya FM family is our number one priority, we will get through this together as a company, and as a society at large”.
During his show, Thabo "Tbose" Mokwele’s morning show, “The Best T in the City,” the seasoned broadcaster urged South Africans to stay home.
In a video clip shared on his timeline, Tbose is heard saying, “It (Covid-19) is not going anywhere, any time soon. The sooner we accept this, the better, even experts don’t know exactly when then the world would be free of Covid-19.”
He continued: “For all, we know we have another year of this (pandemic), so it doesn’t help thinking the world will get back to normal soon, we need to adjust and accept that the virus is now part of our daily lives.”
He also strongly condemned those who don’t take the pandemic seriously and no longer adhere to the regulations.
He said: "Life is back to normal. Look around you, in the townships the situation is even worse. When all this started, we made sure, we adhered to the personal hygiene routine, right now we’re back to not watching our hands regularly, we're back to socialising, hugging and touching, life goes on like there’s no covid-19 to wrestle with hence it’s getting closer and closer to home."
See the video clip below:
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/Covid19IsGettingCloser?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Covid19IsGettingCloser pic.twitter.com/RSIA7jWDPx
— T. (@tboseZA)