Treat us with the respect we deserve

The lockdown was never about the numbers. It was supposed to be about ensuring “the state of readiness ”— making sure that everything was in place to deal with the expected spike in infections in the coming months. That the number was going to rise quite significantly was never in doubt. We are now into the seventh week of the lockdown and if we aren’t ready now, we will never be.

But now all the talk from the government is about the increasing rate of the infections and, as a result, a return to tougher restrictions for some of the hotspots — most of them the country’s main economic hubs.

This makes no sense at all. People are starving, businesses are closing and the jobless rate is growing, and the lockdown has done nothing to halt the rate of infections.

If the lockdown was about ensuring our hospitals and other facilities were geared up to cope with the expected flood of coronavirus cases, and we are assured this is now the case, why the continued harsh restrictions?

There are a multitude of other diseases across the world, and especially in Africa, that we have been, and are still, dealing with that are way more deadly than Covid-19.

The initial justification for the lockdown was solid and the nation was firmly behind it.

But the situation has become farcical and that support has all but collapsed.

As the lockdown was eased just more than a week ago — and I use that term loosely because it encompasses many even tougher restrictions — we were told that the levels would be reviewed weekly.

But as we ended week six of the lockdown on Thursday, the government was mum and no review was forthcoming.

This lack of communication is feeding into people’s frustration and fuelling open rebellion of the rules.

You were quick to ask for our buy-in on the lockdown, Mr President, which we gladly gave you, but we are rapidly losing patience with what is becoming one of the world’s longest lockdowns.

We all know figures and models can be twisted to suit anyone’s objective and thus we need to know exactly what some of these nonsensical rules and extended lockdown are based on.

Instead of treating us like troublesome children, treat us with the respect we deserve.