Looming lockdown restrictions: How do we punish government for its incompetence?

Goody gumdrops!

Those of us who get to live, get to live the new South African dream of yet again being smacked by some regulations aimed at halting the spread of Covid-19.

The first time was apparently to prepare the health facilities with ambo-bikes. The second time was to stop new year’s parties since December, Christmas and Matric Rage might have exhausted the country’s liquor supply. Now we have a third wave inbound, which we’ve been warned about for months, so naturally, let’s talk about upping the restrictions.

You have to be grateful the people in charge of the country don’t fix cars. If the car kept overheating, they’d tell you to turn it off until it cools. It would just never occur to them to fix the radiator.

Coupled with an embarrassingly slow vaccine rollout, naturally sprinkled with some traditional corruption to boot, we’re experiencing a third wave and our best response is to put the pressure on the populous once again.

In February, we were told that the third wave was “inevitable”. Call me a stickler for English but to me inevitable means that we know it’s coming and we can prepare for it. What preparation was done? Uhmmmm…

Less than 1% of the population gets fully vaccinated and even that process is questionable.

Sure, restrictions work. Ask your ER doctor buddies and just look at the numbers for yourself. The numbers come down when restrictions go up. Much like the engine cools when you turn off a car. It still doesn’t mean that that is the best way forward.

So we’ll probably keep at this strategy, because we know it kinda, sorta works if we can throw the dead, jobless and bereaved into the ignorance or inevitability pile. Whichever one works best for the narrative of the day.

We also know that this strategy will be okay to most, because nobody is asking if this can be done better.

Yes,  at first the “we’re shooting in the dark” excuse was valid. Nobody had any idea what we were supposed to do. But if you’re predicting a third wave for months and the best preparation we can offer is to warn people about it and its inevitability, then we really need to start asking difficult questions.

The most difficult ones will be reserved to address the powerlessness of those who expect more. What can be done? Do we sue the state? For what? Damages? Pain and suffering?

Of course, even if you did successfully sue the state, it’s not like those making the decisions will feel it. Suing the state is pretty much like suing yourself, assuming you pay tax.

There’s a reason New Zealand, Australia and a bunch of other countries have their Covid-19 numbers under control. They made use of their overkill.

South Africa had some of the most intense and longest restrictions globally, right down to the clothing we could buy. We went full overkill and what did we do with it? Oh yes. We uh… implemented load shedding.

No really, we wasted it with hardly a calorie spent on forward thinking and planning.

Countries with less intensive interventions succeeded because they had particular purposes and goals for those interventions. More importantly, they had long term vision.

On this side, the only thing of length that’s impressive is that of the sticky fingers attached to PPE “providers”.

If more restrictions do come into force under the auspices of a third wave and a noise isn’t made about it, why, I’d be disappointed. Sure, I won’t be surprised. I’m not expecting any real pushback because it’s all in the narrative of saving lives.

It’s just really depressing that maintaining the narrative of saving lives can actually get in the way of saving lives.

Richard Anthony Chemaly. Entertainment attorney, radio broadcaster and lecturer in communication ethics.