S Africa extends lockdown by two more weeks; top execs take 30% pay cut

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended the 21-day, COVID-19-led national lockdown for another two weeks. Ramaphosa made the announcement on Thursday evening in a national TV broadcast as the country prepared to start the third week of the initial lockdown that would have ended on April 16.

The president also said the Cabinet and top management in government would take a one-third pay cut for the next three months to assist the Solidarity Fund. "There is sufficient evidence to show that the lockdown is working," Ramaphosa said, saying that the pre-lockdown rise of infection at a rate of 42 oper cent has come down to four percent after enforcing the measure. "But the struggle against the coronavirus is far from over. We are only at the beginning of a monumental struggle that demands our every resource and our every effort.

"We cannot relax. We cannot be complacent. In the coming weeks and months, we must massively increase the extent of our response and expand the reach of our interventions," Ramaphosa said. Cautioning against the abrupt withdrawal of the lockdown, the president said, "If we end the lockdown too abruptly, we risk reversing the gains we have made in the last few weeks." "Our immediate priority must remain to slow down the spread of the virus and to prevent a massive loss of life." Emphasising that this must be done while preventing the economy from collapsing and saving South Africans from hunger, Ramaphosa unveiled the government's three-pronged strategy both to save lives and protect livelihoods.

The strategy included launching an intensified public health response to slow down infections, unveiling a comprehensive economic support package to assist businesses and individuals affected by the pandemic and extending increased social support to protect poor and vulnerable households. "Over the next two weeks, we will roll out the community screening and testing programme across all provinces, focusing in particular on highly vulnerable communities.

"Those who test positive and cannot self-isolate at home will be isolated at special facilities that have been identified and are now being equipped." Ramaphosa also announced the establishment of the COVID-19 Information Centre at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to ensure that the strategies are effectively coordinated and are driven by comprehensive, real-time data. "This world-class centre will keep track of all screening, testing, isolation and hospitalisation throughout the country. It is already identifying infection hotspots," he said.

"The Cabinet will be developing a comprehensive package of urgent economic measures to respond both to the immediate crisis and to the severe economic challenges that we must confront in the months ahead. "In support of this effort, we have decided that the president, deputy president, ministers and deputy Ministers will each take a one-third cut in their salaries for the next three months.

"This portion of their salaries will be donated to the Solidarity Fund," he said. Ramaphosa called on other public office bearers and executives of large companies to make a similar gesture and to further increase the reach of this national effort.

He said he had been speaking to other African leaders over the past two weeks about a coordinated continental effort to combat the coronavirus. "We have established an AU COVID-19 Response Fund to mobilise the resources necessary to support this effort.

"We have reached out to world leaders, even as they struggle with the pandemic in their countries, to assist the continent with essential medical supplies and to support a comprehensive stimulus package for Africa," Ramaphosa said. PTI FH RAX RAX

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