'Are we still flattening curve or are we just paralysed in fear?': Gareth Cliff to Ramaphosa

The controversial former Idols SA judge said he would like to hear from president Cyril Ramaphosa regarding plans to move lockdown from level 4 to level 3.

Gareth Cliff's call comes after his controversial open letter, where he said South Africans were concerned about the havoc the lockdown was causing to the “economy, on people’s lives and livelihoods”.

“We’re in crisis and it would be in everyone’s interest to know what the end game is.

“When is level 4 morphing into level 3? Nobody can plan their lives unless we know these things. And by we, I think I can safely say, all of us,” Gareth told listeners on his Cliff Central show this week.

According to Gareth, a clear Covid-19 strategy was needed because “we have no idea what those victory conditions are”.

“There is no scenario in which not a single life is lost and there is no scenario where we resume economic and social activity exactly as before,” he said.

“The government needs to be honest and acknowledge either how many people we’re prepared to deprive of a livelihood, or how long we intend to attempt delaying the inevitable, because the deaths are inevitable, and lockdown will just stave them off for a few weeks or months.”

Earlier this month, health minister Zweli Mkhize noted that prolonging the lockdown would not have a substantial impact on the possible peak of Covid-19 infections.

“The people who will die from Covid-19, will die from Covid-19 because there is no cure and there won’t be for months, or as some might say, because it’s their time. This is no longer controversial. This disease knows the victory conditions. We are prevaricating.” said Gareth.

“What we can do is start planning our individual lives in line with what the government decides to do, and that’s why we need to hear from the president.”