We are told the reason the cabinet cannot lift the state of disaster is that it needs to keep it in place in case there’s a fifth wave of Covid-19. Meantime, a number of still quite onerous conditions remain in force, including highly restricted attendance at indoor and outdoor gatherings such as sports events.
Retaining the current state of disaster “in case there’s a fifth wave” defeats the object of the legislation: a new national (or regional) state of disaster can be implemented at any time. This is like parking a fire engine outside a building “in case there’s a fire”. This is an approach which would have served parliament and the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital quite well, but would not be necessary in a properly managed state.
Michael Fridjhon, Parktown
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