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Western Cape Prime Minister Alan Winde says the province is fighting the Covid-19 wildfires using data, contact tracing and detection, and “employing all the lessons we have learned this year.” (Photo: Ziyaad Douglas / Gallo Images via Getty Images)
The Western Cape is beginning to make preparations for an economy and society in a post-Covid world. Prime Minister Alan Winde revealed some of these plans, in the context of a Covid-19 ‘superprocessor event’ with 89 linked cases, which raised the alarm for Health Minister Zweli Mhkize.
Western Cape Prime Minister Alan Winde says the province is fighting the Covid-19 wildfires using data, contact tracing and detection, and “employing all the lessons we have learned this year.” Winde addressed a special, hybrid session of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament on Thursday to describe the province’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of the wildfires Winde referred to was the spread of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, which was linked to a bar in Claremont.
Western Cape officials call for additional surveillance after ‘superpreader’ event
“We’re starting to see wildfires emerge linked to spreading clusters, these wildfires break out when people don’t follow the important golden rules that will keep you and those around you safe,” Winde said.
Winde urged people to keep wearing masks, practice physical distancing, wash their hands, and avoid poorly ventilated and crowded spaces. Winde’s comments came after Health Minister Zweli Mhkize said Wednesday night that there had been a rise in Covid-19 in South Africa and highlighted the Western Cape, saying the province had a 42% increase. in reported Covid-19 cases.
This morning, after reading and analyzing the epidemiological reports of our country, as Minister of Health, I cannot help but worry. My fellow South Africans, when we emphasize that the risk of a resurgence remains high, we are not doing it to instill fear in you.
– Dr. Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) October 21, 2020
Winde delivered his speech on the back of MEC of Finance David Maynier’s speech on the prospects for provincial and municipal economic review, which was presented to the legislature on Tuesday this week.
Western Cape loses 150,000 jobs, but recovery will outpace the rest of South Africa, says David Maynier
Referring to the province’s role at the start of the pandemic and the resulting shutdown, Winde said: “When President Ramaphosa announced that South Africa was going into a hard shutdown, our government wasted no time to make sure we were prepared to our peak infections to come. Our goal was simple: to make sure that all people, no matter where they come from, receive the medical care they need, when they need it. ”
In the space of a few weeks, the province built five field hospitals to help with Covid-19 cases and brought 41 quarantine and isolation facilities online across the Western Cape, Winde said. Other programs that the province came up with included: working with the taxi industry to create specialized transportation services for healthcare workers and those who need transportation services between and from quarantine sites, supporting food programs (including the start-up of 2,000 food gardens), use neighborhood watchers to help with social distancing in shopping malls and ensure that patients, especially diabetics, receive their medications at home.
But this came at a cost, Winde said.
“I am deeply concerned that provincial budgets will be significantly reduced, despite public promises, some made to me personally, that funds spent on Covid-19 would return to us, and despite the National Treasury continuing to inject money into state-owned companies in companies like South African Airways, ”said the prime minister.
“The budgets of the Western Cape government in the medium term are likely to be reduced by the same amount or more than what will now be funneled into the black hole that is SAA.”
Winde told the legislature that “we are faced with the reality that we have much less money to fulfill our mandate and help with the recovery of our province.”
The key to this reality is identifying four choices the province must make to move forward, Winde said. “The first is related to prioritization, the second to efficiency, the third to spending, and the fourth to the delivery model we will use.”
Winde explained the four options:
- Prioritization: “Our decision is that it is better to focus our efforts on fewer key priorities that will have the greatest impact on the lives of our people. And do it well ”.
- Efficiency: “Our government considered whether we should stick to the current mechanisms that we have used to date, writing annual plans that we religiously adhere to, whether they provide the maximum benefit or not. Or if we should be brave, take the risk and allow our staff to innovate and make changes along the way so that we can deliver smarter and better government. “
- Expenditure: “If we allow our administration to swell with our own salary bill, like so many other administrations across the country, or if we must be brave and fight this.” Winde said the province was freezing the filling of non-critical posts in the Western Cape.
- Execution Models: “Our government must decide whether we address these challenges by using our own government services or whether we must be courageous and make the bold decision to partner with others when they can do better.” The province will work with civil society and the private sector to grow the economy.
Winde said the province will be bolder than ever: Its goal is to create 150,000 jobs by the end of the year through its emergency financial aid and recovery program. Other plans include working with the private sector on infrastructure and investment programs, increasing exports and taking advantage of existing partnerships in the province, including the taxi industry.
“Our Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, will present the Western Cape Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in this Parliament next month, which will include budget adjustments, especially in light of the necessary Covid-19 spending that we have incurred and projected cuts that we expect to see, ”Winde said.
DA spokesman Ricardo Mackenzie said he appreciated Winde’s speech. In a statement, he said: “Under the current battered economic climate, we anticipate budget cuts that will be evident in the next Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement due to years of poor implementation of economic policy by the national government.
“In the provincial legislature, however, we will commit to monitoring the recovery plan presented today by the prime minister and will work with the executive to ensure continued agility in our response to all the challenges that lie ahead.”
The leader of the opposition group, Cameron Dugmore, said Daily maverick that while Winde spoke about the need for courage in the difficult task of economic recovery while fighting Covid-19, “Clearly, he has not shown the courage to deal with the real pathologies of the Western Cape: inequality and the perpetuation of privileges when it comes to land ownership and the real ownership of the provincial economy. “
Dugmore said “nothing” in what Winde said indicated a serious commitment to correcting inequalities that existed before and worsened during the shutdown.
“I was also disappointed in your attempt to instill fear by calling for budget cuts of R10 billion to the provincial budget, but without showing evidence of this … our current budget for 2020 is R73 billion. He claims that R10 billion will be cut in the medium term, but later in his speech he backs down and says they are waiting for a final figure; this is the worst to cause fear, ”said Dugmore.
On Friday, the legislature will debate Winde’s speech. DM
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