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Covid reached a million cases in South Africa

Covid reached a million cases in South Africa over the Christmas weekend and the band plays on.

No one seems to have noticed the oddity revealed in President Cyril Ramaphosa's "emotional" address on Monday: members of the military-style command council recalled from their "festive breaks" while a "war" is raging.

Like Western Cape health MEC Nomaindia Mbombo who went on holiday to Limpopo while the WC experiences a Covid surge worse than the first. And when these putative leaders return from their breaks they'll bring the virus with them, infecting colleagues and family, ironically, what they're concerned holidaying citizens are doing.

It's no wonder the virus is rampant in SA. Like UK and US, its leaders are on holiday, playing golf or - something Ramaphosa shares with Johnson - weak, ineffectual and flip-flopping. And SA's people too are throwing caution to the winds as they always do - capacity shopping malls and beaches and ignoring commonsense rules.

Bring it on Covid! We're better than you.

Freedom Front+ says government is to blame bec they could've "prevented the surge". Ramaphosa says "we [sic] let our guard down and paying the price" (he means collectively). Both are partially right. 

Nothing except complete national isolation could've prevented the second wave, but it was entirely predictable, if not expected. Society did become complacent. But the state is responsible for public health and while people can be blamed individually and in groups, Ramaphosa's government must take 90% of the blame for not foreseeing the 100% predicted second wave and preparing for it. 

His and their failures include lowering to level 1 then not increasing it again and remaining wilfully oblivious when the second surge started in Eastern Cape and spread to WC. But they still allowed inter-provincial travel and not raising the alarm as holidays approached. Good heavens, they even went on holiday! 

Those irritants on the side like DA and pandenialists didn't help with their vexatious court challenges either. 

In two days this weekend we lost two friends to Covid not counting others who were seriously ill this year. As individuals we must take responsibility but Ramaposter and government must lead else why are they there. I don't accept blame for his government, Alan Winde and WC government (in bad taste the immature MEC boasts about her holiday) and others for not being proactive.

There are no restrictions on trade but religious service. It's not easy to keep 2m apart from patrons in cinemas. Cinemas have recycled (airconditioning) air, churches as don't as a rule (too expensive), and it's not an essential service.

True to his capricious form, WC premier Alan Winde, who like the DA is against lockdowns and restrictions that impact businesses - they were against the closure of Garden Route beaches because of tourism, the DA losing a court challenge - is now in favour of restrictions. He doesn't really know what he wants and I suspect he's not listening to his medical experts.

Once again government kowtows to business interests by allowing businesses to remain open. This illogical restriction - banning recreational and religious activities but permitting trading - was also evident with them closing beaches, where the risk of catching Covid from others in the open air, provided distancing is maintained, is small but allowed crowded shops and malls to not only be open but not enforcing minimum numbers.

Overall, the restrictions are illogical. This is exactly what's happening in California among many American states which is the main reason for the spike: halfhearted and irrational measures. 

Government is again making it up as they go along, and they're late when for a month or more they saw the second wave coming - with a new infectious variant - from EC. 

And Ramaposter has the audacity to blame citizens for what's happening now.

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