Stop moaning, Cyril! Plus 5 highlights from 'Vrye Weekblad'

And the first few weeks of hard lockdown, that were supposed to win time to prepare for the peak, was wasted. 

It now looks like earlier predictions by scientists that SA could see 50,000 deaths due to Covid-19 were realistic.

The Medical Research Council reported this week that there have been about 17,000, or 59%, more deaths than predicted between May 6 and July 14, which is likely to mean the death toll due to Covid-19 is far higher than the near 6,000 reported deaths. 

This could also explain why SA's death rate is so much lower than the rate in other countries (1.4% compared to more than 2% in China and 7% in Italy).

Read more about our battle against Covid-19, and more news and analysis in this week's edition of Afrikaans digital weekly Vrye Weekblad.

It could have so much different if the government stuck with the spirit and promises that Ramaphosa made in his first televised speech about the pandemic. 

We are all in this together, he said, and government will listen to the people and walk with them in the fight against this virus.

But rather than the best, the pandemic brought out the worst in the ANC. 

We could only watch as money and supplies to fight the pandemic were stolen and misused, while it is clear that there was no urgency to prepare for the sharp edge of this pandemic. 

The incompetence, irrationality and one-sided decrees from government that hit so many South Africans' pockets and permanently damaged the economy, is unforgivable. 

Read the full article in this week's Vrye Weekblad

Must-read articles in this week's Vrye Weekblad

>> Browse the full July 24 edition

FREE TO READ — HARD ON THE TACK | Even if the government's ban on the sale of alcohol was implemented in good faith, the devastating effects thereof should weigh more than the positives for our overfull hospitals.

THE CITY OF (TARNISHED) GOLD | The great trek from the Joburg CBD has been going on for 40 years. It is an indictment on city councils past and present, and the city's latest budget is depressing reading.

FREE TO READ — HANDS OFF OUR SEOs | Appointing skilled people to lead SEOs is not enough to fix them. Government needs to stand back and allow them to run these entities like commercial enterprises.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT | President Cyril Ramaphosa missed an invitation to lunch this Wednesday. If he had shown up, he would have been able to choose his seat from about a million empty chairs, and hundreds of chefs and waiters would have been standing ready to serve him. 

SECESSION! SAY WHAT? | There is suddenly a handful of groupings who want the Cape and a few dots here and there in other provinces to secede from the Republic of South Africa. Max du Preez takes a look at their plans.