President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: ANC
Soon after announcing that South Africa will be moving to an adjusted level 1 lockdown, President Cyril Ramaphosa was accused of using the less-intense regulations to benefit his party ahead of the local government elections.
Among the changes that Ramaphosa announced on Thursday night was that:
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The EFF has criticised the “lacklustre” announcement.
It accused Ramaphosa of “petty electioneering” and said government “has long abandoned science in their response to the pandemic”.
“It is an undeniable fact that Ramaphosa has only eased lockdown restrictions to ensure that he can campaign without breaking the laws he had set for the rest of society,” the EFF said in a statement.
“These laws, particularly in relation to gatherings, have been broken by Ramaphosa on his campaign trail, while his lackeys in the establishment expected the EFF to obey his nonsensical regulations and run a campaign that would undermine our electoral prospects.”
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Many people on Twitter agreed with the EFF.
The DA also criticised the move to level 1, but not because the restrictions were eased. Party leader John Steenhuisen called for Ramaphosa to end the lockdown altogether.
“People are suffering and jobs continue to be lost unnecessarily to senseless restrictions that have long since been ignored by his own party. President Ramaphosa and his government appear not to grasp the severity of our jobs crisis that has produced the world’s highest recorded unemployment rate of 44%,” said Steenhuisen.
Steenhuisen said government should rather focus on improving its vaccine drive.
He added “lockdown restrictions simply tilt the electoral playing field for those willing to break the law, undermining the prospects for a free and fair election”.
The IFP, meanwhile, lamented that Ramaphosa’s address happened at the same time as the party launched its election manifesto.
Although IFP founder Mangosuthu Buthelezi expressed “sadness” at the timing of the address, he said it was a coincidence.
“Whoever advised president Ramaphosa has let the IFP down as they would also have loved to hear the president’s address, as they are part of the nation,” said Buthelezi.
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Reacting to Ramaphosa’s address, trade union federation Cosatu said it was “deeply concerned” at the decrease in daily vaccination rates.
It wants government to explain how the vaccine certificates will be made widely available to people in rural areas and those without access to the internet.
Additional reporting by Thapelo Lekabe
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