We can defeat Covid-19 but the ball is in our court

It didn’t take long before President Cyril Ramaphosa’s chief law enforcer Bheki Cele came out firing after the country moved to an adjusted lockdown level 3 on Monday evening.

After a surge in Covid infections in recent weeks, and with South Africa passing the one million infection mark, Ramaphosa had no option but to lay down the law ahead of New Year’s Eve, and the opening couple of weeks of the year.

The abuse of alcohol was labelled the chief culprit for the reckless behaviour of the public, resulting in disobedience and putting strain on an over-burdened health system. One just had to look at scenes of people partying with no social distancing on Monday night at a popular venue while the president was speaking to the nation, to see why we needed stricter regulations.

A disregard for authority forced the presidency’s hand. That kind of despicable behaviour is exactly why we need to move to a different lockdown level. Failure to do so will see the virus spread quicker and further.

Alcohol is now prohibited, a new curfew from 9pm to 6am is in place and non-essential shops, bars and restaurants must close at 8pm.

“Don’t put alcohol in your teapots, don’t put alcohol in the bottles that are written zero alcohol, we know your tricks,” warned Police Minister Cele, threatening those who break curfew will be given new homes at police stations.

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said: “Hospitals are filling up the way they did during the June/July wave. That’s a massive concern. Something had to be done to curb the stress it is putting on our health workers.”

We may not agree with all the regulations put in place, but the ball is in our court. Behave, wear a mask, obey the new regulations and we can defeat the virus.

Our future depends on it.

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