EFF statement on the gradual phasing out of the lockdown

17 April 2020

The EFF notes the announcement by the National Command Council that over the next 14 days, the council plans to phase out the lockdown in stages. This is already supported by the relaxation of the regulations and a commitment that they will still implement other relaxations on a weekly basis.

The EFF rejects this logic which is not supported by any medical evidence that it is safe to relax regulations. In fact, all medical and epidemiological evidence suggests that we should stick to strict regulations across the board. It is clear that relaxations being implemented are purely for profit maximisation by greedy companies. Amongst these regulations that have been relaxed, three stand out;

1. To allow all mines to operate at 50% production to avoid seismic shifts and rock fall.

2. To allow operations of all call centres to help with "insurance" like in the retail industry.

3. To allow goods that are already at ports to be exported to avoid "congestion".

The idea that mines must operate at 50% production to avoid seismic shifts is not only ridiculous, but lacks evidence. There is absolutely no truth, in the assumption that; if mines do not operate at 50% production they will experience rockfall and collapse. Mines collapse at 100% operation, causing catastrophic rack fall that have claimed hundreds of poor mineworkers' lives.

No one can provide a scientific basis that it takes 50% and not or 3% of production for rocks not to fall in a given mine. They are not even talking about maintenance, but actual production; this regulation is only seeking to keep the workers working so that mine bosses continue to make profit during the global pandemic. It has nothing to do with seismic shifts or rock fall. It must be unequivocally rejected.

The regulation allowing call centres to operate is also irresponsible and not supported by essential urgency. In the explanation of government, these call centres will allow people to apply for insurance to cover their credit in sectors like retail. Meaning, insurance needs to be activated to cover capital losses experienced in March and April. Thus, they need the consent of clients to make claims so as to cover for the losses experienced due to lockdown.

How ridiculous it is for companies to force thousands of workers to report to work simply to facilitate insurance for Edgars, Woolworths, or PepStore? There is nothing urgent or essential about these shops except profit.

The final regulation which has no logic relates to goods that are already at different ports for exportation. The ministers argue that to avoid "congestion" these goods must be allowed to be exported so that when the economy resumes production, there is no congestion in the ports. This is a weak justification for business to continue as normal at the ports. In fact there is reason to believe that alcohol which is already in the ports will not leave the country through this regulation.

The only thing that these amended regulations do is to give operational legitimacy to non-essential services for the sole purpose of profit maximisation at the expense of people's lives.

The most important reason we object to relaxations of any regulations in non-essential services at this stage is because of the poor numbers of tested people. As of last night, only 95 060 people have been tested, majority in private institutions. Of these, 2 605 are positive.

This number is rising daily and so is the death tall; now standing at 48.

It is not a secret that majority of those who tested are White people. Many black people have not been tested and as a result there is no knowledge of the nature and spread of the pandemic in their communities. The racial category of any data matters in South Africa because the geography and socio-economic conditions remains racially structured. A white people only data can never paint a true picture of the impact of Covid-19 in our country; unless government wants to tell us that only white lives matter.

In all the 21 days of the lockdown, government has done very little to spread testing into black communities. In addition, all the 2 605 people who tested positive tested are not under mandatory quarantine. They are in self isolation or in hospitals. If they do not comply with self-isolation, we have no guarantee they will not spread the virus.

Therefore to open up large scale industries like mines, call centres and ports where it is impossible to work without close human contact is condemning our people to mass slaughter. Majority of these workers being asked to report for duty are black, they come from communities without adequate healthcare: meaning with no testing facilities at all.

It is also a fact that mines, call centres and ports have no ability whatsoever to guarantee occupational safety from Covid-19; How do you impose social distancing inside a shaft or when miners are digging platinum? In addition it is a fact that workers in the mines, call centres, and ports, are mostly contract or are outsourced workers. They work without basic benefits like medical aid. Should they fall ill from Covid19 they will not have access to adequate treatment which is available to their bosses in private hospitals.

The EFF rejects the opening up of these sectors and condemn it with the contempt it deserves. We also condemn this act as government's concession to capital at the expense of the safety of our people. It is a conspiracy for murder!

Relaxation of the lockdown regulations can only be effected when there is scientific evidence that the curve is flattening at a high speed, the recovery rate of those found positive is increasing relative to a high population testing rate and that the health care system has been tested and found ready for a rebound of the second peak of infections.

Finally, we reiterate our call on government to impose payment holidays on all instalments without discrimination and interest. To maintain the strict lockdown regulations and aggressively speed up testing particularly in black communities, whilst paying attention to scientific tracking and tracing. Otherwise, many will die, only to find out posthumously, that they were killed by Covid-19 attained at a work place.

Issued by Vuyani Pambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 18 April 2020