Level 3 decision hurts SA but suits ANC
It is unconscionable that the ANC government opted to move South Africa to level 3, even as scientists advised a move to level 1 and called lockdown a “blunt instrument”, as President Ramaphosa has now revealed.
The ANC’s hard lockdown is world-record-breaking in both duration and scale of economic devastation, yet millions of workers and school children and thousands of businesses are being forced to remain in it against the advice of local experts.
Either deep naivety or outright dishonesty is behind Ramaphosa’s claim that level 3 is a middle road between the advice of South African scientists and the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO’s advice is that lockdowns should only be eased as infections rates go down.
Clearly, this cannot possibly pertain to South Africa, since infections here have risen even with a lockdown. If government is to follow this advice, we could be in hard lockdown for many more months, since the peak of infections is only expected to be between August and September for most of SA.
The level 3 decision has nothing to do with saving lives, or with WHO opinions, and everything to do with ANC internal politics and outdated ideology.