Protracted lockdown At the time of writing, South Africa has been in lockdown for 70 days or 10 weeks. It is probably as well to take an overview of where we, as a country, sit, and what has developed (within a restricted ambit of my interaction whilst under lockdown) since lockdown started on 26 March 2020. By Peter Bagshawe
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he initial 21 day lockdown was extended via the introduction of a 5 level lockdown grading with the country moving to level 5 and in a fairly quick progression through level 4 to level 3 which started on 1 June 2020. There has accordingly been a progressive easing of restrictions imposed with specified non-essential businesses being allowed to partially under level 4 and further opening of businesses allowed in level 3. The most obvious and immediate consequence of lockdown has been the curtailment of employment and the ability to work in the formal and informal sectors. The loss of income has been catered for, to various extents, via Governmental and civic 30
organisations initiatives with State involvement including measures such as the use of the Unemployment Insurance Fund to provide payment of grants. Various philanthropists and businesses have contributed to establishing funds to cushion the impact on those facing loss of income and economic hardship. Despite this, the impact of the initial lockdown, level 5 and level 4 lockdown have impacted on business across all levels and sectors with jobs being shed, salaries being reduced and in numerous instances businesses forced to close. Against this initial brief overview Ask Africa, a local market research company, issued an interesting report geared around identifying concerns, trends and perception
SECURITY FOCUS AFRICA MAY 2020
of politicians. From a political perspective, President Cyril Ramaphosa enjoys the highest approval rating from the sample surveyed with the trend being for the request for more frequent updates and regular information from the President. The President is immediately followed by the Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, from an approval level rating with, in descending levels of approval rating, the other Ministers measured in the report being Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel, Police Minister Bheki Cele, and Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. With regard to Minister of Dlamini Zuma there have been public expressions of anger directed at her that are, in numerous
instances, phrased unacceptably and are unnecessarily personal. Given that politics and political perceptions are rapidly changeable, it would be interesting to track this on an ongoing basis. Access to accurate data is low when it comes to employment currently however, the National Treasury has stated that, worst-case scenario, there is the potential for South Africa to lose up to 7 million jobs with the unemployment rate then being close to 50 per cent. The premier of Gauteng, David Makhura stated, during a virtual session of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature that for Gauteng the best-case scenario would be the loss of 890,000 jobs with the worstcase scenario being 2,000,000 jobs. The prohibition on local and international travel, mass
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