SPEECH TO THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT BY BRETT HERRON, GOOD MEMBER AND SECRETARY-GENERAL
27 August 2020
That the House debates the impact of the draconian measures by the national government on the economy, which costs South Africans their jobs, and is exacerbated by the reoccurrence of load shedding, which will result in many more job losses.
THE ALTERNATIVE WAS NEVER REALISTIC: SWEDEN LOST LIVES AND ITS ECONOMY
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Saving livelihoods is intimately connected with saving lives. That is not a choice.
Our government had to act decisively to contain the spread of the virus – especially in poor communities who live in over-crowded and under-served conditions
They did so by introducing laws and regulations specifically designed to contain and control the spread of Coronavirus.
The DA calls these “draconian” because for the DA some lives matter less than the creation of wealth.
They are not willing to put the greater good above private wealth.
They were not willing to give up surfing in order to limit the movement of people.
They could not accept well established wine farms publicly expressing their solidarity with the government’s actions. They were labelled sell-outs.
There is no denying that the lockdown has had a devastating impact on the economy and many people’s incomes have been reduced or their jobs lost entirely.
What does need to be denied is that the alternative herd immunity approach, advocated by some DA leaders, was ever a realistic alternative.
This Swedish or Trump-style “open economy” approach to handling a global health crisis was only ever intended to benefit the rich – those with private healthcare, who can easily anyway work from home.
And now the entire world can now see where this denialism would have led us.
Covid death’s in Sweden are 10 times higher than in the neighbouring countries Norway and Finland which, like South Africa, endured a prolonged lockdown.
And, despite aiming to save their economy, Sweden’s GDP has dropped by 60% more than its neighbours who did lock down.
Sweden proves that calls for herd immunity were irresponsible and deadly.
These mistakes are done and the lives of the first wave of Covid infections have been lost. But let us not lose the lessons.
We now need to rebuild the economy and absolutely load shedding will not help us achieve this at a fast rate.
We need to look to avoid energy intensive investments and look to invest instead in labour intensive industries and sectors.
One way is to stimulate the construction sector by releasing well-located government land for the development of affordable housing.
Get busy. 600,000 people are waiting for homes. Release Tafelberg, release Rondebosch and release Mowbray.