DA leadership’s lockdown stance slated

THE DA leadership’s stance on the need for a local lockdown during the second wave of the pandemic in the Western Cape has been slammed.

The approach was criticised as members of the ad hoc committee on Covid-19 engaged in a debate on the committee’s report of its activities over the last eight months.

Committee member Brett Herron (Good Party) said: “The early and hard lockdown is widely regarded as the right call and as having assisted our country from collapsing under the worst of possible scenarios.

“The DA leadership was unable to resist the political opportunities the restrictions presented and some DA leaders embraced and promoted herd immunity theories. Now our province faces a surge in infections. The so-called second wave. And as the premier contemplates the need for a local lockdown to contain community transmission, the DA leader says there is no evidence it works.”

Rejecting the report, ANC provincial Health spokesperson Rachel Windvogel said: “The report had been superseded by the present resurgence of the killer pandemic … The ANC cannot accept the report as it is and what it stands for. The committee has its work cut out to deal with the resurgence, conduct more critical oversight and hold the executive to stringent account.”

Tabling the report, committee chairperson Mireille Wenger (DA) said the structured approach the committee adopted had given it “the necessary teeth to really unpack the impact of Covid-19 on the Western Cape”.