Fast deteriorating social situation in South Africa is starting to take on catastrophic proportions
21 May 2020
The FF Plus is concerned about the socio-economic situation in South Africa, which is deteriorating fast. The negative impact that the Covid-19 lockdown has had on communities is starting to take on catastrophic proportions.
The Covid-19 regulations, as well as the deviant and sometimes downright senseless enforcement thereof, is causing a growing resistance on all levels of society, which is undermining the credibility of government on all levels as well.
The undisciplined behaviour of municipal workers working in essential services, who now regularly disrupt the delivery of these services especially in larger municipalities by means of illegal strikes, only serves to reinforce the assumption among the people that the authorities have basically lost all control over the self-created situation.
A rise in crime levels, brought about by criminal elements that exploit the fact that the police and other law enforcers are involved in handling Covid-19 related offences, only further reduces the people’s faith in the authorities.
Communities feel vulnerable and at the mercy of circumstances over which they have no control; they even feel that law enforcers are letting them down. The fact that neighbourhood and farm watches are prohibited from continuing with their operations creates an even greater rift in the relationship of trust between communities and authorities.
The voices of resistance are starting to sound like a choir and calls for tax boycotts among ordinary law-abiding citizens are no longer a strange occurrence.
While small and medium-sized business enterprises are forced to remain closed due to some obscure regulations, the queues for food parcels are getting longer and longer and the donors are becoming fewer.
All these factors contribute to creating a volatile situation and the authorities should not underestimate it.
The attitudes of all law enforcers, including the police, the defence force and officials who are responsible for the enforcement of the Covid-19 regulations, must be closely monitored. Any form of abuse of power or insensitive behaviour must be addressed and nipped in the bud.
The FF Plus will do everything in its power to force government to waive irrational regulations, to unlock the economy and to put in place only measures to limit the spread of the virus.
Issued by Michal Groenewald, FF Plus MP and chief spokesperson: Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), 21 May 2020
