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As South Africa enters its fourth week of lockout, experts warned that new “harmful” government regulations and new “harmful” regulations pose a threat to the economy and security.
This week:
- Government phone lines are overwhelmed with all requests for food packages.
- New regulations released this week by the Cabinet appear to further stifle sectors of the economy.
- Cabinet meeting on post-closure socio-economic plans fails
- A senior police official said fears of social unrest are rising, News24 reported.
On Thursday, the government issued new regulations as part of its plans to gradually ease the blockade. But there are several contentious regulations:
- The ban on the sale of cigarettes and alcohol continues
- Wine farms can no longer transport their stocks to ports.
- The sale of hot food by retailers is still prohibited.
‘Lives versus lives’
Economist Mark Schussler told News24 that government regulations were “destroying the economy,” which was in jeopardy before Covid-19.
He said the argument that lives or the economy could be saved was not logical.
“They are lives versus lives,” he said.
“We have destroyed more of the economy than we should. We have to think intelligently and quickly about how to open up parts of the economy.”
He said some of the regulations, such as the ban on alcohol and cigarettes, “stun the mind.”
“Some of the minor rules are unnecessary, damaging to the economy and are not known to save lives of any kind … while you are in the supermarket, why are the clothes stored away? Why can I buy an electric razor? No It is normal?
He said the regulations were very tough compared to what was happening in the rest of the world.
READ | Party over: Ramaphosa rejects demands to lift alcohol ban during shutdown
Business for South Africa (B4SA) previously estimated that about one million jobs will be lost this year.
Robert Hutchinson-Keip, non-executive director of African Bank and a member of B4SA, said there was much concern from companies regarding the regulations.
But he added that the government had to carry out a “delicate balancing act” to draft the regulations.
For example, allowing one type of trade means that you must allow another trade further down the value chain, such as truckers who deliver food to informal traders. But they might not be a registered company, and then they couldn’t be registered as essential services, and so on.
“Compensations are very difficult,” he said, adding that companies were interacting with the government on the issue.
Acting DA party leader John Steenhuisen told News24 that a “hard” shutdown was not sustainable in the long term, and that the government was giving up revenue from tobacco and alcohol products, which were desperately needed to fund the health response to Covid-19.
He said that President Cyril Ramaphosa was ignoring the “rationalists” in his cabinet, who must be telling him: “Police brutality is counterproductive, people are hungry and starving, looting is happening, this is not a logical way to proceed”.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. (Jeffrey Abrahams, Gallo)
Is not sufficient
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni was due to the table’s suggestions for some form of poverty alleviation fund or social grant at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
But the Cabinet simply deferred the matter to a meeting next week, saying there was still work to be done. A statement issued after the meeting did not mention the grant.
READ | Investec warns of social damages if closure continues
The companies reportedly support a recharge for all the grants, which would cost the fiscus around R9 billion.
A group of academics from the universities of Massachusetts, Cape Town and Oxford have been lobbying for a R500 a month child support grant at a cost of R6.2 billion a month, which they say would help the vast majority of the poor. homes
On Friday, the Presidency tweeted that requests for food packages could be made by calling the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) hotline or sending an email to the agency. Sassa responded, saying that she was receiving 9,000 calls per hour.
# COVID-19 The | DISTRESS SOCIAL RELIEF
Requests for food packages can be made by calling the National
@OfficialSASSA Call the Center 0800601011 or send an email to [email protected] #Stay at home #CoronaVirusSA # Day22ofLockdown # FoodParcels pic.twitter.com/Uv3OEF6cZ0– Presidency | South Africa ???? (@PresidencyZA) April 17, 2020
We are receiving an extremely high number of emails and calls, and not everyone will be able to respond due to the great need that exists. We receive around 9000 calls per hour, please be patient with us.
– SASSA (@OfficialSASSA) April 17, 2020
FIU
The government introduced a temporary employee / employer assistance scheme (Ters) under the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to provide aid to workers and employers affected by Covid-19.
But there have already been complaints that the process is cumbersome and ineffective. Academics estimate that 45% of workers are not eligible for help from the FIU.
In an interview with Business Maverick, FIU Commissioner Teboho Maruping said it appears that companies are already laying off workers. He reportedly said that the FIU normally pays benefits of around R14 million a day, but, in the past 11 days, it has paid R39 million a day, R430 million in total.
Members of the South African National Defense Force patrol the streets of Diepsloot in Johannesburg. (Felix Dlangamandla / Gallo Images)
Law and order
Food riots and other forms of social unrest are certainly at stake, unless the government intervenes.
Dr. Johan Burger, senior research consultant for the Justice and Violence Prevention Program at the Institute for Security Studies, said there was “real need and despair,” which did not leave security services with much room. They are expected to enforce the law and now they will have to deal with outbreaks of violence and food confrontations.
“My next concern is that they will be forced into a situation where the violence becomes so great, so threatening, that they will use more force than necessary and people will be seriously injured or even killed for the need for food,” said Burger. . said.
He suggested that the government should immediately provide food on a large scale to communities in need on a regular basis.
“You cannot leave this problem to the security services, this is not going to solve the problem. It is a recipe for disaster,” Burger said.
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