Scientists sidelined

I came back from work in the medical field too tired to cook. I was hungry. It was a difficult day. Yet I cannot go to Pick n Pay, Checkers, Spar or Woolies for a cooked meal. Trade & industry minister Ebrahim Patel, who doubles as SA’s food tsar, is against it. What options do I have?

In KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala and his cabinet are creating their own Covid-19 protocols as they go along. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) guidelines are thrown out of the window. If I get infected in my line of work I will be taken by force by Zikalala’s Covid-19 officers. It does not matter that the WHO says if I am asymptomatic I can self-isolate. Or that I am a health professional and know what to do.

As the number of new infections rises, desperation is creeping in among our political leaders. Science is ignored. Zikalala will indirectly force many people not to go for testing in case they are sent to unwelcoming quarantine centres. Thousands of infections will go undetected.

I can’t help but notice the absence of National Institute of Communicable Diseases scientists at health minister Zweli Mkhize’s recent media conferences. Have they been sidelined? The minister is now calling for assistance from the Chinese and Cubans. To do what exactly? Did he consult the local medical fraternity? We have brilliant doctors and nurses here. As the country prepares for its biggest fight after the pandemic — to save jobs — we need a leadership that is guided by facts and not emotion or politics.