It’s one month and two days since President Cyril Ramaphosa first declared a national state of disaster, signalling that the Covid-19 global medical emergency had hit home.
Infections in SA were a still modest 400, though this was approximately a six-fold increase since his previous address. That number has since risen to 2,605, meaning SA has the biggest number in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation . That is a full month and five days after the declaration of the national disaster and 10 days before the extended lockdown is due to end. And in the meantime, the country is mired in the deepest economic crisis experienced by anyone who is alive. It might not be unreasonable for citizens to tell them not to bother.
Ramaphosa cannot be accused of such recklessness and complacency. He has rightly been praised for the leadership he showed in tackling the health crisis head on. But he is slowly but surely eating away at that goodwill with the mismanagement of the economic response, which will result in a growing number of people questioning the legitimacy of government actions so far.
10m will lose their jobs here too. That means, unemployment will double. And taxable revenue & GDP will reduce by half, taking collapsing currency into account. Which means the government will have to choose between state wages, grants and debt repayment. They'll start printing.
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