EFF STATEMENT ON THE TERMINATION OF THE NATIONAL STATE OF DISASTER TO COMBAT COVID-19
Monday, 04 April 2022
The EFF has noted the announcement of the effective termination of the National State of Disaster, which has been in place for over 2-years to combat the impact of the Corona Virus pandemic in South Africa.
In what has been a long drawn-out series of unscientific, irrational and inconsistent application of lockdown regulations, Cyril Ramaphosa has finally come to the realisation that the ad-hoc power provisioned by a pandemic, cannot be sustained forever.
Having failed to build a single new hospital, failed to motivate our people to vaccinate and becoming an ambassador of Western Vaccines which are given to the nation by his funders Aspen, Ramaphosa has conceded to sanity.
It must be stated clearly that Ramaphosa presided over the death of our people, and whilst doing so, oversaw massive Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) corruption.
The corruption went to the highest level in his office, further confirming his complicity in corrupt activity.
Ramaphosa's Spokesperson Khusela Diko, was implicated in PPE corruption to the tune of R125 million, his Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize implicated in corruption scandal to the tune of R150 million and MEC's across the country using death as an opportunity to loot.
The primary goal now should be a concerted effort to build a new economy, that will not be based on neo-liberal policy perspectives. The pandemic revealed the role of the state in development and industrialisation, and the specific need for state pharmaceutical capacity.
Put simply, in times of crisis, capitalism withers away as a narrow, self-seeking ideological perspective, and socialist-aligned and state guided economic policy prevails.
The EFF will carefully scrutinise the National Health Act and the supposed pandemic regulations that will be integrated into the act. We must ensure this government does not smuggle regulations into law, which will give them power to micro-manage the political terrain and enhance their ability to conduct illegal and corrupt procurement.
The pandemic has exposed an incompetent government which is committed to corruption, even in the face of death. It must be a realisation for all South Africans that there is no future under the leadership of people who could not in a global pandemic, manufacture a vaccine or produce a single hospital dedicated to manage the virus.
Finally, the EFF thanks its Public Representatives, the collective leadership and ground forces, for being at the forefront of defending our people during the attempts to exploit the pandemic to violate the rights of South Africans.
It was the EFF that fought bitterly for economic concessions such as the cutting of the repo rate, a holiday on loan-repayments and providing financial relief to the poor during the pandemic.
Our Public Representatives in particular sacrificed 30% of their income for three months, to donate to the COVID-19 Solidarity Fund. This was to assist with government's response to the pandemic. The EFF was the highest contributor to the Solidarity Fund, contributing R15 million. For this, we salute our Public Representatives.
Let us all move forward with a renewed passion to improve the lives of ordinary people and remove a parasitic government, that played no meaningful role in protecting lives and contributing to vaccine development.
Statement issued by the EFF, 4 April 2022
