Anxiety and avarice — contrasting emotions in the age of corona and corruption

Covid-19 hit close to home for us at the Sunday Times last weekend. Even though for the last three months our work and lives have been dominated by coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, nothing could have prepared us for the news that one of our own had tested positive for Covid-19.

Like most other organisations, we have been working remotely ever since the start of the lockdown. But sometimes computer systems do not work optimally and so a few of us have to come into the office to ensure that deadlines are met and that the newspaper we deliver is of the quality our loyal readers have come to expect.

In those instances where some of us have to come to the newsroom, strict social distancing protocols are followed.

But even so, when the colleague broke the news that he had contracted the virus, there was anxiety and, dare I say it, even fear. Those of us who were in contact with the colleague on our last day at the office consulted their doctors, got themselves tested and selfisolated. It is quite an experience, even for those of us who report on the pandemic almost daily and believe they know all the important information one needs to know.

Some of the colleagues have spoken about the frustration of trying to be tested, especially if you don’t have a family doctor to give you a referral letter. There was also the internal turmoil that came with the anxiety of waiting for the results. What if these come back positive? Does that mean that I have infected my family? Who else have I been in contact with? So many questions.

Fortunately for us, all the results came back negative. The infected colleague is asymptomatic and resting at home. He is in good spirits and should be up in no time, again helping the newspaper break important stories.

Despite our country’s great efforts, the pandemic continues to spread and the bitter truth is that many more South Africans have still to go through similar experiences in the coming weeks and months.

As daily statistics from the department of health show, the lockdown has helped only to slow down the rate of infection but has not stopped the spread of Covid-19.

From the onset, President Cyril Ramaphosa, health minister Zweli Mkhize and scientists working with them were clear that the main aim of the lockdown was to push back the peak of the virus, and give the state time to prepare for the high demand for hospital beds that will come when we eventually reach the peak.

The worst is yet to come.

But even as the infection figures continue to climb, it is becoming clear that the government will have to loosen the restrictions on people’s movements and incrementally allow for more businesses to operate if its fight against the pandemic is to continue to enjoy public support.

The business community — white and black, big and small — has become restless, demanding that the national command council allows for more enterprises to start operating. The middle classes, facing prospects of salary cuts and job losses, are beginning to question the logic of certain aspects of the lockdown.

Soon the poor, employed or jobless, will be demanding a return to normality as they run out of money and food to feed their families.

To avoid chaos and widespread resentment, the government needs to communicate more effectively its plans for the months ahead.

If the peak is expected to be around September, is the plan to return the country to a level 5 lockdown around that time, or the less onerous level 1?

What education is being done at community levels to prepare the public for the wave of infections that experts say has yet to hit us? What is being done to fight the stigma that is being associated with the virus?

For the majority of South Africans, the best way for the message about what lies ahead to reach them is through local government, specifically through ward councillors, because the councillors have direct access to them.

A pity, then, that many of the councillors are not covering themselves in glory during this crisis. If they are not hoarding food parcels aimed for the poor and giving those to their friends or to those prepared to pay them bribes, they are stealing mobile water tanks from needy communities.

The heartlessness of some of our public office-bearers is really heartbreaking.

In the midst of the most devastating crisis of our lifetime, with lives of multitudes at stake, all they think of is lining their own pockets.

But what is happening in local government should neither surprise nor shock us. It is a political culture that has been cultivated in our land through years of impunity for those in the upper echelons caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar.

If a head of state can allow his expatriate friends to loot state institutions, then go on retirement and spend much of his time on Zoom with his son taunting those who should be holding him accountable for his deeds, then a ward councillor has reason to believe that he can get away with stealing maize meal and fish oil from the poor and giving it to his friends.

Flattening the curve of Covid-19 infections is everybody’s focus right now, but that struggle will be made even more difficult if we continue to pay lip service to the fight against corruption.