'This is bullsh**t, you don't get to decide for free people in a free country': Gareth Cliff to Ramaphosa

15 July 2020 - 08:14 By Unathi Nkanjeni
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Radio host Gareth Cliff has again taken aim at President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Radio host Gareth Cliff has again taken aim at President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Image: Via Gareth Cliff Instagram

Radio personality Gareth Cliff has again taken aim at president Cyril Ramaphosa, calling his Sunday address “bullish**”.

On his CliffCentral show this week, the controversial radio host said Ramaphosa had no right to decided what people, who live in a free country, could do or where they could go.

“He goes on TV this president, willy-nilly and makes rules,” said Gareth.

“He sits with his national coronavirus command council and they go, 'ah, I think we need to ban alcohol', and they decide among themselves and that's it and your right to do what you want is gone.”

The former Idols SA judge said the curfew was ridiculous and that social family visits should be allowed.

Under level 3, according to the latest gazette, visiting family and social gatherings are still not permitted.

Speaking on Monday, co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the continued ban on social visits and the reintroduction of the ban on alcohol sales was because people tend to let their “guard down”.

“He (Ramaphosa) then says there is a curfew and you can't visit your family. Bullish**!

“You do not get to decide for free people in a free country whether they can see their mother or father, brother or sister or their children, you don't get to do that. And any government that tries to do that, even if they say it's for health reasons, it's a tyrannical state that is trying to control your behaviour,” said Gareth.

This is not the first time Gareth has lambasted the president and the lockdown regulations.

In May, he came under fire after being accused of “bullying” Ramaphosa in his open letter, where he claimed South Africans were concerned about the havoc the lockdown was causing to the “economy, on people’s lives and livelihoods”. 

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.”

We took to the streets of Cape Town to find out what people thought about the latest ban on alcohol sales and distribution by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The president announced the return of the ban on July 12 2020.


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