‘SA is broke, and cannot afford tougher lockdown restrictions’ – expert

With the third wave of COVID-19 infections banging down the door, South Africa stands in a perilous position. The resurgence of the virus across the country – before the mass rollout of vaccinations has even begun – poses a terrible health risk for our citizens. But authorities may now be powerless to prevent infections from spreading.

When is the third wave coming?

That’s because the state coffers have essentially been emptied. The government stated the same thing earlier this year, with funding for SASSA grants and UIF/TERS support drying up. Over 14 months of punishing the economy, crippling businesses, and ordering lockdown directives to suppress coronavirus have taken a very clear toll.

Heading into winter, infections will rise. There are likely to be more hospitalisations and deaths, too. But the same blunt instruments that guided us through the early days of the pandemic cannot be used again, some experts believe. Martin Kingston, leader of the Economic Interventions Workgroup at Business for South Africa (B4SA), is firmly in that camp.

Can South Africa afford tougher lockdown restrictions? Apparently not…

Speaking to Bruce Whitfield this week, he explained that the fiscal flexibility enjoyed by the government throughout 2020 has now gone. Kingston isn’t worried about tougher lockdown restrictions returning – simply because there is not enough financial support to drop down past ‘Adjusted Level 1’ laws. Changes are likely, but full-scale alterations are not…

“The economy is not in a position where we can afford such restrictions and the government no longer has any fiscal flexibility to provide the type of support that it has provided over the past year… UIF and Ters have effectively run out.”

“We are worried about the third wave; we’re not worried about additional restrictions or higher lockdown levels. We can’t, in this economy, afford now to see any lockdown measures increased over adjusted Level 1.” | Martin Kingston