Covid-19: Makhura believes Gauteng is ready to go to Level 3

The Gauteng Provincial Legislature hosted its first-ever virtual House Sitting Meeting on 19 May.

Despite some initial teething issues, the meeting progressed as usual, with members raising their hands to give their input.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura said that Gauteng was originally the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country. He said the province adopted a response plan based on six pillars. This included addressing how the healthcare system responded to the outbreak, addressing food security and social relief, enforcing health measures, discussing how to mitigate the impact of the lockdown on the economy, working with partners outside government to respond to pressures of the pandemic and gearing up the provincial government to operate under new conditions.

He highlighted that the province’s command council was initially meeting every evening when the pandemic was hitting the province particularly hard. However, now these meetings take place twice a week.

Transmission of virus slowed

He said that they have had various engagements with sector, political and business leaders to work together. He said that some of their work over the past two months has been as a result of these partnerships. “It is evident that we have been able to slow down the rate of transmission more effectively. Our province has moved from a position of having more than 50 per cent of cases and at the moment we have less than 15 per cent of cases in our province.”

He highlighted that the province has the highest recovery rate among provinces that are considered hotspots. “We continue to be the province that has tested the largest number of people… 33 per cent of tests in the Republic [of South Africa] have been done in Gauteng.”

Health MEC Bandile Masuku added that they have been working with the private sector to provide more beds to hospitals. “We are in a comfortable space where we can say we do have enough space for patients.”

Vast economic impact

Makhura said that they have gone to each department to develop a government business continuity plan in order to look beyond the Covid-19 pandemic and how the provincial government’s plans will be affected over the next three years.

“All models are projecting that the road ahead is going to be tough and painful. The past two month’s successes are not the be-all and end-all and we must not be complacent. We are not over the hill, we still have to climb the mountain as the peak is still ahead of us.”

Makhura highlighted that there will likely be an economic depression which will impact millions of people. “Every scenario says that the impact of Covid-19 on the economy will be no less than the scale of the 1929 Great Depression.”

He said that they have already begun to see the effects in other countries such as the United States of America. “Even in our Gauteng economy, there is no doubt that Covid-19 is more than a health emergency.” He said that in their modelling, the best-case scenario might mean that about 900 000 jobs will be lost. In the worst-case scenario, up to two million jobs could be lost due to the pandemic.

Food insecurity has been an issue that has been exacerbated by the lockdown. “The numbers of food-insecure people are just astronomical… we know that we have assisted over 600 000 people in Gauteng since the lockdown with food parcels. There have been big challenges, the demand has been huge.”

Makhura said that the province is ready to move to Level 3 in a responsible and cautious way. “We are working with all sectors of the economy to help them access the stimulus package put in place by the national government.”  He added that the provincial government is also working with private businesses to put together a R1-billion fund for small businesses.

Impact of lockdown on treating other illnesses

Masuku said that during the lockdown, 1 090 TB patients have not collected their medication and about 10 950 patients have not collected their ARVs. He added that this does create concerns about drug resistance and creates a bigger problem for the health department in the long term.

He added 1 413 procedures have been deferred since the beginning of the lockdown as they are not urgent.

Provincial government to work with NGOs

Acting MEC for Social Development, Panyaza Lesufi, said that about 1.5 million learners are fed by school feeding programmes. He said that as the lockdown period fell within the Easter holidays they would not have ordinarily provided food for learners during this period. He said that moving forward, they will be encouraging children who are not returning to school (as Grade 7s and 12s will be returning first), to go to their schools to participate in school feeding programmes.

He said that their approach is to ensure that NGOs coordinate their work with the government. “Our argument is very clear, we don’t want to steal the thunder of NGOs, we don’t want to take over their work or block them and we don’t want to centralise distribution, we just want to coordinate this work properly and ensure regulations are adhered to and respected.

“We need the extra hands of NGOs and we’re not going to stop them from providing support to vulnerable groups.” He said that it is important to ensure the army is notified, police are on standby and the local councillor and community is notified. He highlighted that it is important for them to account for all the people that receive food parcels to ensure they go to the poor who need food.

School safety is a priority

Lesufi said that their top priority is ensuring learners are safe. He highlighted some of the key aspects:

• The first is ensuring schools are cleaned. For the first time, schools will be allocated funds to ensure this is done.
• Allocation of personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure each child will be given a set of masks each week, as well as soap and sanitisers. Teachers and district offices will also receive PPEs weekly.
• Ensure that scholar transport is safe and there are clear guidelines about what is needed. Transport must be cleaned and each bus will have a monitor to ensure that there is social distancing.
• Substitute teachers will need to be on standby should a teacher fall sick or they aren’t able to return to school. Lesufi said that the average age of teachers is between 55 and 60, which puts them at risk.
• Class sizes will be reduced to 20 learners. For example, one Grade 12 class of 40 learners will be split. As there are more classes, they will need more teachers to step in to assist.
• Ensure that all relevant protocols are followed for food distribution and ensure learners eat at different times.
• The core of the curriculum will remain but other parts of the curriculum that are not deemed essential will be removed.
• Lesufi said that they will be changing timetables to ensure there can be social distancing.

There are 167 schools that have water and sanitation challenges and they are working with the Department of Water and Sanitation to provide water tanks.  Schools that have been vandalised during the lockdown will be provided with mobile classrooms until the schools can be repaired.

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