‘We need to open the economy again and we need your help and support in this great effort to lift the lockdown. Help us save lives. Help us save jobs. Help us unleash growth.’
This is the thrust of a letter sent to Friends of the IRR today by CEO Dr Frans Cronje.
He points out that ‘even if the country moves to level 4, the great majority of businesses, entrepreneurs, and people with jobs will still be excluded from trading effectively or earning an income. The economic and social consequences for millions of South African families will be catastrophic.’
Here is Dr Cronje’s letter:
Dear Friend of the IRR,
Last night President Ramaphosa announced how the government planned to extend South Africa’s economic lockdown. The government plans to follow a system with five levels of lockdown. Currently the country is at level 5 and the President said that from 1 May it would move to level 4. We have studied some government documents and fear that, in practice, there will be little difference between levels 5 and 4.
Even if the country moves to level 4, the great majority of businesses, entrepreneurs, and people with jobs will still be excluded from trading effectively or earning an income. The economic and social consequences for millions of South African families will be catastrophic. Already there are millions of people who risk losing their jobs. Many families have exhausted their savings and may lose everything. Tens of thousands of small businesses may never reopen. Riots and looting are breaking out where people face real hunger and desperation. Already the government has mobilised the whole of the army in the event that anarchy and chaos sweeps across the country. Soldiers and police have beaten people in the streets. Power-drunk officials have enforced rules and regulations that serve no healthcare purpose. All of this is going to get a lot worse unless we succeed in lifting much of the economic lockdown.
The politicians seem to have abandoned South Africa’s people, with both the EFF and the DA saying they support the government’s plan. From today, my colleagues are launching a new campaign to lift the lockdown in order to save South Africa from poverty, and hunger, and chaos. Our plan in essence is that any business that does not crowd large groups of people together and can maintain sensible social distancing measures should be able to open and trade immediately.
- On Wednesday next week we will be launching that plan at a media briefing.
- We will be placing vast pressure on the government, political parties, and business leaders to open the economy.
- And we will support, as a friend of the court, any legal action by any entrepreneur to have his or her business reopened where that business qualifies on the criteria we set out.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a serious health threat to our country. We support sensible social distancing policies, tracking and testing policies, the isolation of older and vulnerable people, and preventing large crowds of people coming together. But the government lockdowns are threatening to do much greater harm than the virus itself. The health of people cannot be divorced from the health of the economy. This fight is about saving #LivesAndLivelihoods.
We need to open the economy again and we need your help and support in this great effort to lift the lockdown. Help us save lives. Help us save jobs. Help us unleash growth.
Regards,
Dr Frans Cronje
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