At least two months ago, when the coronavirus pandemic hadn't yet reached South Africa, calls were growing for President Cyril Ramaphosa to begin taking 'decisive action' as frustration mounted over his government's apparent inaction against certain issues facing the country.
Ramaphosa's popularity had taken a dip after peaking when he was elected President of the ANC in the party's 2017 elective conference at NASREC, Johannesburg. Fast-forward to 23 March 2020, Ramaphosa made a major announcement that scored some of the much needed points to restore confidence in himself and his government. Placing South Africa under 21 days of lockdown - and then extending it by a further two weeks - in light of the coronavirus was hailed as a 'decisive' move and some analysts even began labeling the nation's positive reaction to this move as Ramaphoria 2.0. "The fact that the lockdown came at the time that it did - when we had very minimal cases compared to other countries - seems we have been swift in implementing measures." said social commentator Yamkela Spengane. He added: "Countries with healthcare systems that are far stronger than ours showed that Coronavirus can impose a lot of strain on the healthcare system. Our government did take decisive action at the right time." However, not all South Africans are happy with with the idea of a lockdown - like these Twitter users:
Listen to the full episode of 'Covid-19 & The Lockdown From A Political Perspective' here:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorZahid Jadwat is a South African writer, columnist, podcaster and radio show host. Archives
March 2021
Categories
All
|