SA stands on the edge of an abyss

The densely populated townships have become the flashpoints of the coronavirus reality sweeping over South Africa … and in more ways than one.

It was always going to be difficult to police the places where millions of the poorest South Africans live; it was always going to be tough to get those people off the streets for the duration of the 21-day national lockdown ordered by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Many, either in ignorance or deliberate defiance, have been contravening the restrictions. And that, in turn, has led to many documented cases of soldiers from the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) and police beating up people or forcing them to do “punishment” physical exercise.

There have been some – like senior Democratic Alliance politician Makashule Gana – who have welcomed the violence as justified because “people won’t listen”, thereby endangering the health and lives of others.

However, there has also been outrage expressed from many quarters about the brutal way the army and police have gone about their enforcement tasks.

It is not surprising that this sort of behaviour has flared up, given the bellicose statements by Police Minister Bheki Cele, who – although he stopped short at promising to crack skulls – made it plain that any sort of defiance would be met with force.

The soldiers – who played the lead role in many of the assaults and rights abuses – had clearly not paid heed to their deployment instructions that they should only act in support of the police and that, if they saw anyone breaking the regulations, they should apprehend them, pass them on to the police and make an appropriate statement to the police.

Their attitude – of being bully boys – is not likely to change much, because even as Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula condemned the abuse perpetrated by her troops, she used the classic counter-attack technique of claiming the soldiers may have been “provoked”.

However, the brutality aside, there can be no doubt about the correctness of the lockdown … and defiant residents in some townships might find themselves coming face to face with the grim reality of coronavirus infection sooner rather than later.

In Khayelitsha outside Cape Town, there has been one confirmed case of infection, while in Alexandra in Johannesburg, five people are in quarantine after coming into contact with a man from the township who later tested positive for the virus.

Unless people stay indoors in these places and other densely populated areas, it is only a matter of time – and that is a horrifying short period of time going by the experiences elsewhere in the world in similarly crowded cities – before the virus spreads like wildfire.

Once that happens, as we have all been repeatedly warned, it will not be long before our health facilities are overwhelmed by patients needing intensive care.

Our population has a high proportion of those with compromised immune systems, due to conditions like Aids, TB and diabetes … and most of these vulnerable people live in our townships.

It feels as though South Africa is perched on the edge of the abyss. The situation needs control, and self-control, by the authorities … but also needs all of us to realise we will all go down in this disaster.

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