There’s some light relief for Pieter Groenewald and the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) this week, after the party leader saw his test results for coronavirus come back negative. The veteran politician was analysed on Wednesday.
Why Pieter Groenewald had a coronavirus test
A church gathering at the Divine Restoration Ministries in Ribblesdale, Bloemfontein, earlier in March was attended by several government leaders and became the centre of a massive tracing effort to track down some 600 congregants after a group of tourists in attendance tested positive for the coronavirus.
ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe and his party’s chief whip, Steve Swart, were amongst the visitors – and Groenewald had met them both recently. The pair tested positive for the virus on Thursday 26 March, and have been in quarantine with their families ever since. They are now understood to be in good health. President Ramaphosa has also taken a COVID-19 test, with his results coming back negative.
FF Plus respond to the news
- The FF Plus released the following statement:
“Pieter Groenewald tested negative for the coronavirus. Dr Groenewald was tested yesterday and received the results today. The test was done in light of the fact that Dr Groenewald had contact with Reverend Kenneth Meshoe of the ACDP at a meeting of political leaders on the 18th of March.”
“In the interim, Reverend Meshoe had tested positive for the virus. On advice of medical consultants, Dr Groenewald waited approximately two weeks before the test was done in order to ensure a more accurate and reliable test result.”
“Groenewald is grateful for the negative result and he is once again appealing to all South Africans to take the disease seriously, to comply with the relevant regulations, to respect the period of lockdown and to take all possible precautionary measures to protect themselves against the virus.”
FF Plus statement
Source: The South African Read MoreFreedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald has tested negative for COVID-19.#sabcnews
— SAfm news (@SAfmnews) April 2, 2020
