It was clear from the widespread partying last weekend that South Africans have now accepted a new normal, a kind of semi-permanent life with the coronavirus.
There was a time – under level 5 – when we all felt as if the world were about to end. Even as numbers are higher, we now feel better because we have more knowledge about Covid-19.
The most important knowledge we have is that it is real, and that it kills. Almost all of us know someone who either survived the disease or who died of it.
The decline in our country’s infection rate suggests that South Africans have taken the virus seriously. This is evident in public places. He who walks without a mask in town is frowned upon. And no-one can hop onto a bus or taxi without a mask.
We must not take all this for granted. The coronavirus has proven that democracies are the most incapable of managing national disasters.
Look at the madness in the US or the UK. In the name of liberty, citizens there refuse to wear a mask, or to distance themselves socially.
While there are still problems here and there, South Africans have generally accepted a new way of life. We do not have useless public arguments about a hoax or some Chinese virus. It does not matter where it comes from, we know that the coronavirus is real and that it kills.
But there is still a test ahead. Now that spring is upon us, and given the fact that alcohol is again available, a month will tell if there are enough idiots among us who drink and injure themselves and others, and thereby clogging our hospitals.
As people hit the bottle, it must be kept in mind that those who behave as if they are mad deserve to be treated as if they are mad. People who get drunk and forget Covid-19 must imagine a December without alcohol.
That is the health part of our national emergency. Although it did not seem so in the beginning, health is actually the easiest part of the national disaster. For it is largely in our hands. You can decide to wear a mask or not.
The second and most difficult part is about the economy. We now know that more than three million people have lost their jobs since February this year. Indeed, there was nothing those people could do.
When announcing a further relaxation to level 1, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised an economic recovery plan, flowing from discussions at National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac). It is already clear that the key pillar of such a plan will be infrastructure.
A focus on infrastructure development is the only option available for a country that seeks to extricate itself from economic brokenness. That is how Western Europe rebuilt itself after World War 2, and that is how the New Deal got America out of the Great Depression trouble of the 1930s.
But SA lacks two crucial ingredients: leadership and money. Whatever plan Ramaphosa will eventually announce, we know it will not be implemented. What happened to the National Development Plan?
Is there evidence that the current government can implement anything to arrest a crisis? Since Ramaphosa took over as our president, has he fixed a single state-owned company? Indeed, the circus at SAA continues. Let us not fool ourselves; SA is currently leaderless.
The second deficit for our country is money. Post-war Europe had cash from the Marshal Plan, and America had massive borrowing capacity. SA has neither.
Given our country’s already overstretched borrowing capacity, and given the known fact that ANC thieves are always waiting to steal money from any loan, no domestic or international bank will pour its money into the bottomless pit called the South African government.
So, what will happen to us citizens? Here is the bitter truth: black or white man, you are on your own.
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