EDITORIAL | Let’s pray Cyril doesn’t end up with egg on his face after Easter

When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced at the family meeting on Tuesday night that the government had decided on a partial booze ban and bigger religious gatherings, he might as well have declared the beginning of Survivor SA — The Third Wave.

There was no levelling up or tightening of the curfew ahead of the religious gatherings, interprovincial travel and numerous weddings, birthdays or other celebratory events that have been quickly organised and booked in the absence of government clarity to the contrary.

Instead, he banned off-site buying of alcohol for four days, but conversely gave the bottoms-up to on-site sales at restaurants, shebeens and bars, and threw the pews open to congregants eager to celebrate and rejoice in the resurrection.

Of course, hospital trauma wards will no doubt thank the heavens for the four-day reprieve from speeding, drunk driving and abuse casualties.

These tactical adjustments, Ramaphosa reasoned, were aimed at guarding against a possible Covid-19 third wave precipitated by the long weekend — which medical experts have predicted since February.

But instead of acting on the science, our president seemed swayed by the prayers of our religious leaders, who also threatened to turn to the courts to help the government see reason.

But instead of acting on the science, our president seemed swayed by the prayers of our religious leaders, who also threatened to turn to the courts to help the government see reason.

For a year, we have been told that church gatherings are superspreaders — and we have precedence to back this up — 67 of an estimated 850 strong gathering tested positive in Bloemfontein in March last year, a church gathering in the Assisi Convent in the Ugu district in KwaZulu-Natal in December claimed the lives of six nuns, and another gathering of more than 2,000 congregants in Kwasizabantu in the Umzinyathi district yielded 48 positive cases the same month.

So it seems irrational that ahead of what has been described as a deadly third wave — a second wave on steroids, if you will, taking into account that it was fuelled by a variant of the virus and is responsible for more than two thirds of our 52,000-odd deaths — we let our masks down.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ramaphosa, buoyed by his visit to the Aspen Pharmacare factory, which produces the Johnson  & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, was open about the fact that we have missed an important marker in our fight against the pandemic — our herd immunity target. This admission, which was unaccompanied by explanation, came with the deflection that government had procured 30 million vaccines from Aspen.

The severity and magnitude of the surge is dependent on a number of factors — the rollout of vaccinations, civic obedience with social distancing and wearing masks, and possible new variants.

There is no doubt that the Easter weekend is a time of great spiritual significance, but the reality is that allowing congregational worship with a provision of venue capacity and numbers is not sound. Who will police this? Other than hoping that congregants will pray our pandemic away, or that the public will realise the severity of the situation and observe social distancing protocols, it spells a recipe for disaster.

Ramaphosa added that the plan is to revisit and assess damage control after 15 days, with a sober encouragement to citizens to limit travel as much as possible and observe all the necessary health protocols if they did.

And much like the popular reality show, Survivor – we have lost our immunity. The season is fast approaching the end and we are being betrayed by cutthroat corruptors intent on lining their own pockets to outwit, outplay and outlast the rest of us.

Dropping these half measures on us on the eve of Easter didn’t inspire any confidence and begged the question: why didn’t he simply step aside from the party politics that claimed his attention and put the needs of the country first?

The truth is that South Africans, like citizens around the globe are struggling economically, financially, socially and mentally as Covid-19 has forced us to adapt to a new way of life. And much like the popular reality show Survivor, we have lost our immunity. The season is fast approaching its end and we are being betrayed by cut-throat corruptors intent on lining their own pockets to outwit, outplay and outlast the rest of us.

We have in the past year proved again and again that some adults are incapable of following the basic rules of social distancing or wear masks — the most recent being the FlySafair passenger who had to be deplaned, and the Pick n Pay shopper who wore her thong as her mask while waiting to pay.

But as Ramaphosa pointed out, our survival then lies in our own hands. Literally, washing them, and being mindful that our decisions over the next few days has the power to influence the future of our country. We can play our part, but that doesn’t mean we give the government an immunity lifeline. We await their vaccination rollout, hopeful they will realise that our tolerance for laggards is at an all-time low.