EDITORIAL | As the state of disaster nears two years, it’s time for a rethink

On Friday, a typically short gazette from cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was published. Its contents are straightforward.

The national state of disaster has been extended by another month to February 15. This, the gazette reads, takes into account the need to “continue augmenting existing legislation and contingency arrangements undertaken by some organs of state to address the impact of the disaster”.

It is not an unexpected deadline extension, given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and that the country has just started emerging from a fourth wave of infections. It is also unsurprising the government has gone the extension route given this piece of legislation has been used to enforce all of the country’s coronavirus-related laws, from mask-wearing mandates to the controversial tobacco and alcohol bans.

But the reality is that the state is going to need to start moving away from such legislation, as well intentioned as it may have been.

If the law is extended by another month come the middle of February — and there is no indication it won’t be — then SA will have been under a state of disaster for two full years. Milestones draw attention and, with them, criticism, and one can expect that 24 months of lockdown, in one form or another, will raise citizens’ hackles.

In the meantime, even if further variants and resurgences [are] likely in SA and globally, [we] cannot afford [the] luxury of waiting for that eventuality before we start on reconstructing [the] effects of [the] past two years and deal with detrimental indirect consequences of measures to prevent infections.

—  Prof Shabir Madhi

Keeping the state of disaster rolling on is something that is going to become increasingly unsustainable and frustrating for the country.

So while there might not be an immediate need to scrap the legislation, as some parts are still necessary, particularly compulsory mask-wearing and limitations on the size of indoor gatherings, government needs to start looking towards a future that’s not under a state of disaster. 

Professor of vaccinology Shabir Madhi tweeted last week that SA has reached a “turning point” in the pandemic and suggested it is time for the government to change its tack.

“In the meantime, even if further variants and resurgences [are] likely in SA and globally, [we] cannot afford [the] luxury of waiting for that eventuality before we start on reconstructing [the] effects of [the] past two years and deal with detrimental indirect consequences of measures to prevent infections.

“Immediate full opening of schools in SA can no longer be delayed to protect [the] selfish interest of adults who choose to remain unvaccinated or inefficiency to rollout boosters to high-risk groups. Children remain at nominal risk of severe disease [and] have suffered disproportionately.

“[We] have reached [the] turning point in this pandemic in SA and should stop using Covid as an excuse to continue practices such as circumventing parliamentary oversight. [We] cannot use guise of uncertainty of what could transpire, whilst the current science points in one direction,” he said.

It is time to start walking a different path. This starts with the government making a greater effort to up vaccination rates, no matter the costs. This while there needs to be increased personal responsibility — every South African must do what they can to protect themselves (getting the jab and wearing masks, while avoiding overcrowded public spaces) and keep others safe (limiting interpersonal contact when ill).

The state of disaster will likely enter a third year, But it cannot go on forever.