‘Virus must never be made a scapegoat for economic collapse’ – EFF on Level 2

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have said the relaxation of the lockdown restrictions announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday “is not a quick fix” to the countries economic problems.

In his address on Saturday announcing that the country will on Tuesday be placed on alert Level 2 of the lockdown, Ramaphosa said the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant national state of disaster “has required a careful balance between saving lives and protecting livelihoods”.

EFF spokesperson Vuyani Pambo said the red berets had “long said” dealing with the “pandemic must be viewed as a war-condition in which broad sacrifices need to be made in an effort to defeat the invisible enemy”.

“The balance for the EFF has therefore been an insistence on building internal economic capacity,” he said, adding that livelihoods could be protected “through state-interventions”, which he said “should have come through payment holidays”, reducing the repo rate, and providing aid “to the most needy and unemployed”.

Pambo said in light of the country’s high unemployment rate and its economy, both of which he said have “been on a consistent collapse”, arguing “for a return to the economy in the way it existed before the lockdown was not going to ease the economic woes South Africa faces”.

“Our economy has been on a recession every quarter, unemployment has been increasing rapidly especially amongst the youth, and the virus must never be made a scapegoat for economic collapse.

“The rebuilding of South Africa’s economy will not be achieved by a simple return to neo-liberal economic policy which ignorantly predicts economic growth through loans, privatization and external investment,” he said.

To grow the country’s economy would require “inward industrial development and the abandonment of the tender and outsourcing systems”, Pambo said.

“The lack of these two aspects has seen us unable to deal with the coronavirus and left resources vulnerable to greedy and corrupt private entities. This should be a lesson that uplifting lockdown regulations is not a quick fix to our economic problems,” he said.

He said the red berets were “not against” the easing “of lockdown regulations for the sake of it” but “have always maintained that science must lead” the country’s approach to the pandemic and the easing of restrictions, “and thus far that has not been the case”.

“Our objection at this stage is that a false hope is created through manipulated data and under-testing because politicians are more loyal to profits than lives. That is where our disagreement is. The basis of the easing of the lockdown is a lie of decreasing infections whereas we are no longer testing as a country, and this is treasonous and lives will be lost as a result,” Pambo said.

On the lifting of the bans on the sale of tobacco products and alcohol, Pambo said the EFF was of the view that these sectors “have never exhibited a positive contribution to South African society” and the country’s economy.

“If lives can be protected at the expense of substances that have historically proven to be disruptive to black life in particular then so be it. Alcohol results in an overburdening of the healthcare system and violent behaviour in South Africa, these are social factors we cannot afford in a time of a deadly and infectious pandemic.

“Our priority must always be lives because an economy can be rescued, aid can be provided if a government is not corrupt and practices people-orientated policies, lives however can not be revived once lost.

“The attitude that South Africa has a thriving economy to return to is a product of anxiety and fatigue, which we cannot afford at a time where the world is uncertain about the Covid-19 virus. Poverty, unemployment has been rife in South Africa and will continue to be so if we continue to try and find an easy way out of complex situations.”

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