Political parties have expressed confusion about Wednesday night’s announcement on the nationwide lockdown by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The president told South Africans that consultations will take place on how Level 3 of the lockdown will be implemented, possibly at the end of May. Something that many say is more confusing than making sense.
The Democratic Alliance’s Interim Leader, John Steenhuisen says, “We have no idea what is going to be the next move. I think this is really concerning for South Africans. Looks like we on this stage till end May and continues to be in this economy”
The Freedom Front Plus Leader Dr. Pieter Groenewald says “South Africa must ensure that we unlock the economy or else the price that we going to pay will be more than the price of lives that will die out of the COV-19 virus. ”
‘This is confusing’
The African Transformation Movement National Executive Committee member, Sibusiso Mncwabe says this is confusing.
Mncwabe says, “We are a little bit concerned that it is not clear when the country is really moving fully to stage three because seemingly we have to wait till the end of May.”
Inkatha Freedom Party Spokesperson, Mkhuleko Hlengwa says, “This is not a beauty contest or a popularity contest on which minister is gaining more airtime than the other. Here what is important is consistency and certainty.”
COPE wants gradual re-opening of economy
Congress of the People National Spokesperson, Dennis Bloem says they want a gradual re-opening of the economy.
Bloem says, “We have always maintained that the easing of the lockdown regulations must be gradual. We don’t expect that the president will announce the suspension of the lockdown.”
The African National Congress (ANC) says this is a learning process, hence the view from the president that there were some mistakes in handling this pandemic.
ANC Spokesperson, Pule Mabe says, “There’s going to be a lot of teething problems, learning curves and all of that. And we should appreciate that ministers at work they from time to time report on the progress to the public.”
Until the end of May, South Africa will still be under level four of the lockdown
Lockdown could be eased to Level 3
President Cyril Ramaphosa says government is going into consultations regarding the likelihood of easing the lockdown from Level-4 to Level-3, possibly by the end of May.
However, Ramaphosa says some badly affected areas may still require stricter levels of lockdown.
He has acknowledged the heavy toll that the coronavirus lockdown is having on the lives of ordinary South Africans but he says the lockdown was necessary to prevent an even larger number of infections and deaths.
“This coronavirus is taking a heavy toll not only on the health of our people, but also on our people’s ability to earn a living, to feed themselves and their families, to learn and to develop, and to enjoy many of the basic freedoms that we daily take for granted,” says Ramaphosa.
