STATEMENT BY BRETT HERRON, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF GOOD AND MEMBER OF WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT
27 June 2021
The massive resurgence of the Covid-19 virus, and in particular the highly contagious Delta variant, has pushed our government to introducing a hard lockdown with much of our social and economic activity restricted or shut-down.
The lockdown was unavoidable as the third wave resurgence appears to be larger and more impactful on healthcare services than the first and second waves.
The failure of South Africans to contain the spread of the virus is disappointing.
Most of us can recite the mantra: masks, social distancing and sanitising but we are allowing pandemic fatigue and complacency to prevail, despite our knowledge, and with devastating consequences.
The impact of this new hard lockdown will be devastating to our economic recovery and several business sectors.
The closure of schools and tertiary education disrupts another year of education. These are setbacks that are devastating to the education of future generations.
The whole country is affected by those who regard themselves as exempt from the health protocols and rules.
We call on all South Africans to always act in solidarity with the with the national interest to contain the spread of the virus by avoiding gatherings and social events and strictly adhering to the health protocols.
Second only to human behaviour, in containing this virus and moving forward with greater predictability and stability, is the mass roll out of a vaccine programme.
The inequitable and shortage of supply of vaccines is a failure of global leadership. This must be addressed urgently by a patent waiver.
In the meantime there are about 20 vaccines approved for use around the world and the South African government must be pursuing the possibility to extend our access to vaccines so that the vaccine programme can be fast-tracked.
Our vaccine programme has been haphazard and undermined by unforeseen setbacks with both the Astra Zeneca vaccine and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine we had relied on as part of our vaccine programme.
Vaccines should be easily, readily and abundantly available. This must be our priority.
Ends…
Brett Herron
082 518 3264