Premium: Should NATO poke the Russian bear?

As expected, the South African government has extended the National State of Disaster by yet another month to mid-April. This is a clear indication that Cyril Ramaphosa's so-called "light duty" restrictions his cabinet was tasked with introducing under existing legislation like the National Health Act haven't been completed. In fact, an expert I spoke to on Tuesday, Prof Dewald van Niekerk, said the state has been dragging its feet in making those changes and was therefore left with no option but to prolong the status quo. You can watch the interview here.

Further afield, a state of disaster of a different kind continues to unfold in Eastern Europe. On Tuesday, DA leader John Steenhuisen led a debate in Parliament on the war and its likely impact on food and fuel prices on local consumers.

Steenhuisen made his party's attitude towards the conflict clear saying, "There is no moral ambiguity here. Regardless of the political history of the region, or decades of tension between East and West, Russia has committed an unjustifiable act of war. Every world leader with a moral conscience has condemned it and called on Russia to withdraw, but not South Africa's President Ramaphosa. When our President calls Putin, in the middle of his invasion, pledging to strengthen bilateral support for him, you don't have to read between the lines."

___STEADY_PAYWALL___