South Africa’s second largest opposition political party the Economic Freedom Fighters has welcomed the lockdown extension by President Cyril Ramaphosa and will also donate one third of the representatives salary towards the solidarity fund.
On the other hand, the largest opposition political party the Democratic Alliance has expressed their disapproval of the lockdown extension and they have labelled it a mistake.
The EFF published a statement and part of it read:
We welcome the decision of the Executive and all Premiers of contributing a third of their salaries to the Solidarity Fund which will finance the war against COVID-19. We call on all public representatives in all spheres of Government and all employed people with adequate disposal income to do the same so that we assemble enough resources to fight the rapid spread whilst still safeguarding South Africa’s fiscal sovereignty. The crisis of COVID-19 should never lead to the South African government asking for loans from rapacious international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, whose loans will come with irrational and often dangerous conditionalities.
As part of our contribution to the fight against COVID-19, all EFF Public Representatives, inclusive of Members of Parliament, Members of Provincial Legislatures, and Councillors will contribute a third of our monthly salaries to the COVID-19 Solidarity Fund. In this regard, the mandatory party levy deducted from our Public Representatives will not be deducted in the period where we will bcontributing a third of our salaries to the Solidarity Fund. Our public representatives will continue to closely monitor all spheres of govemment against all forms of corruption and violation of procurement laws and regulations.
The COVID-19 Command Council should scientifically and empirically look into whether voluntary isolation of infected patients is not res.nsible for the continued spread of the virus even after Lockdown. We are in this war together and should unite all the people of South Afri. in the fight against the rapid spread of COVID-19. The only way we will defeat this pandernic is when we set aside petty political differences and unite behind a common cause.
The DA made their own suggestions on how the lockdown must be implemented. They are also advocating for the extension of what they also call essential goods are services.
The DA opinioned: Absence of empirical data and modelling makes it difficult to simply agree that a lockdown extension may be effective to curb the spread of Covid-19. The resulting economic fallout means it’s not only lives which are threatened by the virus.We would prefer a gradual phasing out of the current lockdown over the coming weeks as opposed to a continuation of the severe and economically-crippling regulations we currently see. We must ensure that in our attempt to protect our country from the coronavirus outbreak, we also protect the livelihoods of our citizens who will be worse off coronavirus-free, but unemployed as a result