Government is turning a deaf ear

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa likes to remind us that his is a listening and a caring government.

In all his speeches he talks about the value of consultation and reaching consensus in decision making. After the events of the last week, I have to ask: Who has he been listening to? Who has he consulted? With whom has he reached consensus? Who does he and his government care about?

Most of South Africa’s close on 59 million population, especially the more than 26 million registered voters, appeared to have backed the president when he announced the nationwide lockdown almost 70 days ago in an attempt to curb the spread of Covid-19, to give us time to prepare our health resources for when we would inevitably be hardest hit by the pandemic.

There is no doubt that the lockdown worked in the beginning and gave the government valuable time to prepare for the peak of the virus. But in recent weeks, everything seemed to have unravelled.

It appears the government has been listening to certain sectors of society more than others, and even within those sectors, those with traditionally most influence, whether it is through their financial contributions to political campaigns or their influence on the electorate.

It appears not to have listened to the scientists. There have been many grumblings from scientists in the past two- or three weeks for there not to be some truth in claims that some of them have been sidelined.

It appears not to have listened to the parents who are fearful of sending their children back to school when we have not even reached the peak of infections. The Basic Education minister and her advisers seem to believe that children are less likely to get ill. This does not mean that they cannot contract the virus and spread it to their parents and grandparents, who could die because of it, but also spread it much wider in and outside their communities.

The government appears only to have listened to some religious leaders, those who think that religion depends on people congregating in a building. Religion is in your heart. You go to a building to congregate with others.

Maybe the loss of revenue from closed religious buildings is behind the clamour for churches to reopen. Thankfully, there are a few religious leaders and institutions who have decided against reopening their religious buildings as it could potentially lead to the virus spreading even faster. But they are not the religious leaders being listened to.

Everybody agrees that the economy needs to be reopened. But how do you allow the bulk of the workforce to return to work when the public transport system is in such a mess? The government will not be able to monitor taxis properly and they will probably continue to operate at maximum capacity, without any regard for social distancing. But they appear to be among the people that government listens to. I wish that the government would truly listen: to the millions who are unemployed and the millions more who will join their ranks; to the homeless who have no influence because they don’t have money or unions looking after their interests; to the families who have lost loved ones; to the poor people who are trying to make a living while trying to keep everyone around them alive at the same time.

A listening and caring government does not only listen to those who have money and influence.

RYLAND FISHER