WATCH LIVE | President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the nation on lockdown
President Cyril Ramaphosa is on Wednesday evening expected to announce whether the government will would relax national lockdown regulations to level 3 – which would see the opening of the economy as more industries would be allowed to operate.
LIVE: President Cyril Ramaphosa Speech in Text
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa starts his address. Let us keep in our thoughts those who have been infected, lost loved ones and those who endured.
Ramaphosa says the lockdown was absolutely necessary otherwise numbers would have soared and many thousands would have died. We have been guided by experts. We benefited from the guidance of WHO and other nation experiences.
Ramaphosa says 80 000 South Africans could have been infected and death toll 8 times higher if we didn’t have lockdown. Lockdown was to delay the spread of the virus and prevent the surge of infection.
Ramaphosa says by delaying the spread, we strengthened the capacity of our system to better manage the inevitable increase, 25000 additional beds for quarantine, we have PPE for healthcare workers but we still need more and using valuable time.
Ramaphosa says over 9 million people have been screened and over 300 000 tested.
Ramaphosa says we have introduced vital measures to support workers, companies and households severely affected.
Ramaphosa says as of today R200 billion Covid loan guaranteed scheme is processing applications for SMMEs.
Ramaphosa says our most vulnerable citizens will be protected and scale of the measures we have introduced are historic, R2, 7 billion has been raised by Solidarity Fund from commitments.
Ramaphosa thanks Americans for donating 1000 ventilators.
President Ramaphosa: The scourge of #GBV continues to stalk our country as the men of our country have declared war on the women of South Africa.
President Ramaphosa: We are now preparing for a further easing of the lockdown and the gradual opening of the economy.
Ramaphosa says we are preparing for further easing, if we lift the lockdown too abruptly and we risk unimaginable surge in infections and we will be guided by experts and observe other nations experiences.
Ramaphosa says alert level 3 allows greater relaxation of restrictions and some areas may be designated in different levels done according to the rate of infections.
BREAKING Ramaphosa says by end of May most parts of the country must be on level 3 but where there is high rates of infections they will remain on level 4
President Ramaphosa says government will immediately begin consultation process with relevant stakeholders to reduce to level 3. But in cases where a province has a high rate of infection rate, level 4 will remain.
Ramaphosa says we must find those who are infected as early as possible, our door to door campaign in vulnerable communities resulted in over 100 000 people being tested.
President Ramaphosa says we need fundamental shift in our way of life and take personal responsibility, the virus is very much present for the long time to come, infections will rise as measures are eased and know Coronavirus will continue to be a global threat.
Ramaphosa says if you go to the mall there must be a sanitizer, hugging and kissing belong to the past and wear face masks whenever we leave home. I am encouraged so many people wear masks and I went walking this morning, SAfricans have taken message seriously.
Ramaphosa says we need to adapt to new ways of worshiping. We have made great sacrifices over the past two months and we must sustain it. The transition will be more difficult and risk of infections will increase, need vigilance from all of us.
Ramaphosa says these measures are necessary for the survival of each one of us. We may have fallen short, some actions unclear, some contradictory and some evoked anger, implementation has been slown and enforcement too harsh.
Ramaphosa says we will take every action to safeguard life, we outlined clear strategy for economic recovery and we will announce the outcome when we have completed our work, want decisions to be taken in good faith.
Ramaphosa says you want to know when things are bad, we are committed to engage and consult with you, committed to mobilise resources to support the vulnerable and ensure funds dedicated to the pandemic arent wasted and not stolen. Your rights are respected.
Ramaphosa says we will always seek to correct mistakes, our collective struggles taught us much about ourselves and there may have been differences, but we saw kindness, empathy and compassion.
Ramaphosa says we must stand together to build new South Africa and draw strength from what we have achieved.
Ramaphosa quotes Franklin Roosevelt, the heart of the nation is sound, spirit is strong and faith is eternal. May God protect people of South Africa
In essence, the President says we have endured so much, when we ease we don’t want to go backwards and it’s all in our hands to visualize a new world, change how we interact and Covid-19 is here. Old habits wont work.