Break the gridlock: AfriForum proposes measures for lockdown relaxation
30 April 2020
The civil rights organisation AfriForum directed a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa today in which the organisation proposes measures to relax the lockdown. AfriForum says in its letter that the relaxation of the lockdown – announced by Ramaphosa on 23 April – is insufficient to either limit the damages caused by the lockdown or place the country on the road to recovery. AfriForum also released a report Break the gridlock today in which these measures are discussed in detail. The report also charts AfriForum’s priorities under these circumstances.
Ernst Roets, Head of Policy and Action at AfriForum, says that the state’s reaction to COVID‑19 should be viewed within the context of the governing party’s National Democratic Revolution (NDR). With the NDR, the governing party aims to vest more power in the state by continuously gaining more control over state functions and institutions of society. “There is no doubt that government – with a degree of apparent moral justification – COVID-19 as an opportunity to make great strides in promoting the NDR,” Roets says. “This is something that the public must take note of and guard against.”
AfriForum proposes the following five steps in its letter to the President:
1. A balanced solution