Under lockdown, can a married couple sit down in a restaurant and have a glass of wine with their meal? In England, yes. In South Africa, no.
Why does Prime Minister Boris Johnson allow Brits to order wine in a restaurant, but President Cyril Ramaphosa does not allow South Africans to do the same?
There are two likely answers. More important, there is a key lesson.
The first answer is that Johnson trusts the people of Britain, and Ramaphosa does not trust the people of South Africa. He seems to regard them with contempt. The African National Congress (ANC) ruling class has regarded ordinary black people with contempt since it began contending for power in the 1970s. It now believes the ordinary people in South Africa are violent, uncontrollable, drunken hooligans.
The second answer is that Johnson believes his police force and social services are able to deal with crime and disorder, including crimes resulting from drunkenness, such as driving over the limit, assault and murder. The ANC, including its police chief, Bheki Cele, believes the South African police are useless, and unable to deal with common law crimes arising from drunkenness.
The reason given for the sudden, whimsical ban last weekend on the sale and distribution of alcohol was that the preceding unbanning had led to an increase in hospital cases with injuries caused by excessive alcohol consumption. This was overloading the hospitals and reducing their ability to deal with Covid-19.
This was a bit like saying that, because some irresponsible drivers were causing injuries that clogged up hospital beds, all private motor cars must be banned, and people should be forced to use public transport, including dangerous Prasa trains and mini-bus taxis with people crammed together at 100% capacity but with a window open.
Grossly overweight
I couldn’t help noticing that some of the ANC politicians who ordered this banning for the sake of the health of the people are themselves openly disporting their grossly overweight bodies, knowing full well that obesity is perhaps the most dangerous condition for Covid-19.
There is one group of ordinary people that the ANC respects, and that is the taxi drivers. This is because the taxi industry is large, aggressive and violent, and takes no instructions from anyone, including the ANC. It breaks the law with impunity. The ANC is scared of getting its face punched if it defies the taxi industry, and so it grovels before it. When decent, law-abiding people in the restaurant, wine and hospitality industry obey all of the ANC’s lockdown regulations, the ANC spits at them, and suddenly bans alcohol again, ruining their businesses, putting tens of thousands of their employees out of work and crippling South African tourism, perhaps permanently. But if the taxi drivers laugh at their regulations, the ANC cringes and meekly submits to them.
The big lesson is this: if you hear a rumour that the ANC is about to do something stupid, assume it is true. I didn’t believe the rumour ten days ago that the ANC was going to reimpose the alcohol ban; I couldn’t believe it could be so stupid. I was wrong. I didn’t stock up with booze in panic buying, as I should have. Next time I’ll panic.
The ANC acts capriciously, unpredictably, on whims and fancies, responding suddenly to this faction or that new fashion. It is probably worse now under Cyril Ramaphosa than Jacob Zuma because at least you knew Zuma was in charge, whereas under Ramaphosa you never know who is in charge, except that he isn’t. He said that cigarettes would be unbanned, and then that they wouldn’t be.
Gave in to pressure
After the ANC’s promises to respect private property, he suddenly gave in to pressure from the Economic Freedom Fighters and adopted expropriation without compensation. If you hear a rumour that the ANC is going to do a Mugabe (whom the ANC worships) and seize more private property, you should sell your property as soon as possible. If you are a foreign investor, take all your money out of South Africa if you hear a rumour that the ANC is going to nationalise our economy. If you’ve got money in South African bonds, take it all out the moment there are rumours that the ANC is going to print money Zimbabwe-style.
There have been some stupid lockdowns around the world, including Boris Johnson’s one in Britain. (My respect for him has sunk, and it seems that the failures of his beloved, overrated NHS have made Covid-19 worse in Britain than Germany.)
But South Africa’s lockdown surely must be the most stupid of all, and cruel and spiteful with it, as if the ANC’s main aim were to control and frighten and punish. The cigarette ban was illogical and destructive, the alcohol ban hurt law-abiding citizens most and damaged the economy, and now we wonder what ruinous nonsense the mystery leader of the ANC will dream up next.
[Picture: Sérgio Alves Santos on Unsplash]
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR
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