Readers’ Views

End the lockdowns and allow herd immunity to run its course

At some point the government has to stop playing nanny, step aside and allow the population to get on with living (or dying, if that transpires).

This virus is not going away. It will, like influenza, keep mutating and returning for years to come, and the government cannot simply shut down the economy every time there is an outbreak. It’s time to allow herd immunity to run its course.

Carpe Diem, on businessLIVE

From its ivory tower [the government] seems incapable of seeing that its lockdown regulations are impractical, and even under level 4 social distancing was not being observed.

Then there were the ridiculous decrees on what can and can’t be bought, the banning of internet shopping, not being allowed to run except for three hours (which was sure to ensure a concentration of exercisers) — the list goes on. Oh, I forgot to mention the ban on cigarette smoking and alcohol — and I use neither product.

Then the forecast of deaths, which has been consistently wrong.

Despite this, it persisted with its idiotic lockdown with predictable economic destruction.

Eric Naude, on businessLIVE A bad reason to break a contract

I am no fan of Cosatu and hold a very low opinion of every civil servant I have interacted with. However, a contract, once entered into, cannot be arbitrarily reneged on by one of the signatory parties.

The government’s decision to renege on the three-year contract, which would have never been entered into by a responsible government, is made doubly worse by the fact that it will throw more than R10bn at bailing out South African Airways.

Everyone, [public enterprises minister Pravin] Gordhan included, knows it has no chance of returning to profitable service — ever. John Hepton, on businessLIVE

Unprincipled lending

The article “Doubts about how far new SAA will fly on its R10.5bn” (November 1) refers.

Banks? Should they lend to failing airlines? To do so when the taxpayer acts as guarantor is unprincipled.

Dave R, on businessLIVE Supply and demand

Yes, “growth is the best way to fix SA’s fiscal problems”, but only if it is created from the supply and demand sides of an economy that is driven by the profit motive.

The question is how much growth the government’s capital investment can create, and to what extent it can create an environment that will be conducive to the improvement of the contributions from the supply and demand sides to GDP by the private sector.

Fanie Brink, on businessLIVE