We enjoyed a record turnout at the Biznews Thursday Noontime webinar yesterday – and thanks to an expanded licence, all 673 attendees were able to participate from the comfort of their homes. Guests Stafford Masie, Tony Manning and Suzanne Stevens were great value, as were questioning Biznews community members.
There was, however, an annoying feature. Around half way, community members started pinging us with an “announcement” that president Cyril Ramaphosa would be addressing the nation at 8:30pm to unpack further easing of the lockdown. Considering the evidence, it made a lot of sense. Our panelists welcomed the “news”. Sadly, it was Fake.
That’s a shame. The message of these experts was a reminder to Ramaphosa that it’s impossible for leaders to over-communicate. He has played a very weak hand spectacularly well thus far. But in a nation where memories are short, glaring inconsistencies – especially in non-compliant rural centres – are threatening to undermine CR’s hard won credibility.
We can all see that middle class SA in the major metros is mostly toe-ing the official line. Not so those in rural centres. A farmer friend who made his first post-lockdown visit into Polokwane yesterday said crowds were like Saturday morning’s. Easily and widely shared videos show Limpopo’s city is no outlier. Time for the Union Buildings to face this fact.
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Comment from Biznews community member Charles H Schulmann:
Look at the Statistics with regards to the fatalities and mortalities from other causes and it will become evident that the whole Lockdown exercise has been for the purpose of lulling the middle class to sleep with platitudes and placebos while a few have benefited from it.
A Nation of Fighters and Hunters have been reduced to beggars .
We could have embraced Covid-19 and learned to LIVE with it by dressing appropriately for the Occasion and following the Safety Protocols practiced successfully by the Medical Fraternity and Essential Services , because the silver bullet in the form of a Vaccine is a long way off and is no guarantee, while we learn from our unfortunate mistakes to prepare us for the next Pandemic ……
