South Africa Leader Faces Thorny Test Over Virus Lockdown

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published May 31, 2020 | 09:20 AM

Johannesburg, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st May, 2020 ) :Admired by some but berated by others for imposing a tight lockdown, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faces a fresh leadership test over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

Africa's most industrialised nation is preparing to reopen its economy on Monday as it moves into level three of a five-tier lockdown, in force since March 27, sowing bitter divisions.

South Africa had already slipped into recession in the final quarter of 2019 before the virus arrived in March.

The rand meanwhile has depreciated by 22.9 percent since January. Unemployment is very high and so is poverty.

"Initially there was such a big support for this thing," political analyst Ralph Mathekga told AFP, referring to the shutdown.

"But government allowed that goodwill to erode... it began to struggle with the problem of legitimacy when people became irritated with the lockdown measures." Under level three, all but high-risk sectors of the economy will be allowed to reopen, as will schools and places of worship.

Liquor sales will resume, but for home consumption only.

"The president is going to level 3 because he is buckling under pressure from all fronts," Mathekga said.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party has welcomed the move but said it came "too late for millions of South Africans who have already paid heavily for (the) government's dithering".

"This lockdown is costing our economy around 13 billion rand ($742 million) a day," said DA leader John Steenhuisen. "The president must end it tomorrow." The head of the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party Julius Malema opposed the easing of lockdown and said Ramaphosa had effectively resigned as "the captain of the ship".

"Our grandmothers are going to die in the same way grandmothers died in Italy," Malema warned, referring to the reopening of churches.

South Africa has recorded nearly 31,000 coronavirus cases so far, including at least 643 deaths.