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By Se-Anne Rall 
6h ago
Durban: President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied that there are plans to move the country back to level 3 in the wake of a spike in Covid-19 cases.
On Tuesday, Ramaphosa said the rumors “just weren’t true.” He answered questions from the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) about the pandemic and the government’s fight against corruption.
“What we have to do now in light of what we are going through, I do not want to be alarmist and I do not want our people to be alarmed by rumors like we are going to level 3, that is, it is simply not true and I want to assure everyone that that not true, “he said.
Ramaphosa added that if the need arose, he would be the one to advise the country.
“All we have to do is comply with our preventive measures and wear their masks,” he said.
Noted South African economist and chief economist for the Efficient Group, Dawie Roodt, said another lockdown would be devastating for the economy.
“The economy is in the deepest crisis we have ever been in, it is even worse than the Great Depression and we will see a dramatic increase in poverty.
“Poverty is by far the biggest killer in the world and it will kill many more people than this virus will kill in the next 10 years, that’s as far as my calculations go,” Roodt said.
He said it would be discouraged if the closure was deepened.
“We need to completely remove the closure as soon as possible and that does not mean that we should be irresponsible, but each individual must take responsibility for himself,” he said.
Commenting ahead of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s long-awaited medium-term budget policy speech on Wednesday, Roodt said that if the lockdown were to be imposed more, then the speech would mean nothing.
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