Is Ramaphosa hinting at the end of our ‘house arrest’?

President Cyril Ramaphosa has been “missing in action” nationally for almost two weeks since he announced the easing of lockdown restrictions to level 4 on the government’s “risk adjusted strategy”.

So what, then, to make of his regular letter to the nation yesterday? Was he preparing us for good news that a further relaxation to level 3 is not far off … or was he preparing us for more time before we get our “parole”?

It was interesting, to say the least, that Ramaphosa acknowledged that the lockdown had done its job and bought the government the time it needed to prepare the country’s health services for the inevitable spike in infections. The restrictions, it must be remembered, were never about stopping the virus in its tracks. That is impossible – and Ramaphosa said as much when he noted that we will be living with the coronavirus in our lives for at least the next year.

In an oblique way – in referring first to other countries – Ramaphosa said the SA government “had to heed calls for economic activity to resume”. That in itself is a subtle departure from the “government knows what’s good for you” approach the National Coronavirus Command Council has hitherto adopted.

Another significant concession from the president was that, as in other countries, South Africans were “restive and frustrated with the curtailment of personal freedoms”.

Those two comments could be an admission that the government is realising the lockdown is nearing the end of its usefulness … and to prolong it would do significant political damage to the ANC, both on the streets now and at the polling booth in the future.

Finally, in appealing to all South Africans to be responsible – for our own health and that of those around us – Ramaphosa was preparing us for the “new normal”… level 3 and beyond.

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