No hasty decision-making
In The Herald of May 20, your columnist, Ongama Mtimka, argues against a “hasty economic opening”.
Let us start with semantics. I submit that what is asked for is not “a hasty economic opening”.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the stages/levels approach, I can recall that the principle was widely applauded, also by those often referred to in the column as the rich, powerful and middle class.
When the lockdown was extended after three weeks, the media revealed several consultations between the government and interest groups — not a matter of hasty decision-making.
As recently as May 21 we got reports of discussions, the latest with church leaders.
Many of these church leaders minister to your columnist’s “part of SA life in which there is poverty, poor social and economic infrastructure, and government neglect”.
Do we have reason not to trust them in getting the message to the president?
Why government neglect? The Zondo Commission will reveal what has happened to the taxes paid by “the rich and middle class” and by the poorest of the poor, also exposed to 14% VAT.
The blame for spreading the virus internationally is laid at the door of those who have a “globally-orientated and risky lifestyle”.
To my knowledge, no country has revealed who this first person was who brought the virus into the country.
In SA’s case, why did he or she travel internationally?
Was it to ski in the Alps, was it a middle-class academic who went to a conference or was it someone set to benefit an “extractive way” of life?
SA is an unequal society and economists are at the forefront of these calculations and policy proposals.
The generosity shown by soup kitchens and providers of food parcels before and since Covid-19 bring some relief but no permanent solutions — let us admit that.
There are two aspects to these charitable actions.
Those soup kitchens and food parcels must be funded — by those with a social conscience and the taxpayer.
The soup kitchens and food parcels need ingredients and contents.
Where are these essentials from? From farms, factories, bakeries and the like.
I agree that after the lockdown those on the periphery may not be forgotten, but to support them in kind or with job opportunities we need farms, factories, bakeries and many more. These institutions are operated by responsible persons who can apply the health regulations of a new, open normal.
This new normal will hopefully be defined by more sensible arrangements than to regulate the number of Tshirts that may be bought and the design of shoes.
A question to your columnist: I do not understand how measures of “economic wellbeing are disproportionately generous to the rich and middle classes”.
Calculations of GDP are incomplete measures of wellbeing, as any student of economics 101 will tell you early in the second semester.
Lorenz curves, Gini coefficients, poverty headcounts and datum lines, and the human development and poverty indexes are some of the measures exposing the magnitude of inequalities.
The great recession, the birthplace of Capitalism 4, taught us at least one big lesson — the need for a symbiotic relationship between the government and the private sector.
Covid-19 shows how the private sector responds — private buildings are converted to and equipped for hospitals, private breweries become soup factories, builders of domestic cupboards switch to making hospital beds.
Do I need to give more examples of goodwill?
These generous people may not be there if we do not now allow them to operate in a safe manner with sensible health regulations.