EDITOR’S COMMENT
2020-
The year that was Of super-spreader event stupidity, a second wave of Covid-19 and what lies in store for SA in 2021.
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ince my last editorial, former president Jacob Zuma walked out of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture (more commonly referred to as the Zondo Commission after its presiding judge, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo) in a huff. A flagrantly disrespectful action, it impelled the Commission to approach the Constitutional Court for an order to be served on Zuma. This would make it illegal for him (with the threat of arrest) to refuse to appear before the Zondo Commission or answer questions when he takes the stand. The Commission has served summons on Zuma, calling for him to testify from 18 – 22 January and then again from 15 – 19 February 2021. Then Zuma heads to court along with French arms company Thales on 23 February 2021 to answer to charges of racketeering, money laundering and corruption.
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It also looks like ANC secretary general Ace Magashule will have his day, or days, in court next year, answering to corruption and fraud, or alternatively money laundering and theft, and charges around an asbestos project in the Free State when he was the province’s premier. Prior to this, he will have appeared before ANC’s integrity commission, a date set down for 12 December 2020, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Rage Partly as a result of the hosting of some post-matric Rage events around the country in the last few weeks, South Africa has entered its second wave of Covid-19 infections with more 6 709 new infections recorded on Wednesday 9 December 2020 alone, according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. These “super-spreader” events were presumably given the go-ahead by the
SECURITY FOCUS AFRICA NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2020
various local health and policing authorities. What were they, as well as the organisers and the parents, thinking? It’s a been a year since the first Covid-19 case was reported, a year that has seen the virus decimate the global economy, infect almost 70 million people and take the lives of 1,57 million – and South Africa’s national state of disaster extended until 15 January 2021. While the organisers swear up and down that they put all the requisite health measures in place, and that the local authorities approved same, the base line of thinking, to my mind is: crowds of young people with alcohol in their hands is a recipe for disaster even without the Covid-19 pandemic. Now our already over-burdened health system is trying to locate the attendees around the country and force them to self-isolate… this in addition to the gatherings that are consistently happening at funerals, parties and other below-the-radar events.
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