Democratic Alliance (DA) interim leader John Steenhuisen has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of the R500-billion Economic and Social Relief Package and has further applauded the President for approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for funds.

During a virtual media briefing on Wednesday, the interim leader said such an approach was ideal since the institutions have made available, with very low interests, loans specifically for the Covid-19 relief. 

To date South Africa has recorded 58 deaths owing to the pandemic.

“This is unchartered waters. South Africa has never been through a crisis similar to this. This is something that will require the best efforts from all parties to be coming forward with these ideas. Many of the measures announced by the President yesterday echo those that we have been calling for to safeguard not only lives in South Africa but also livelihoods of millions of South Africans who have been hard hit by the outbreak,” said Steenhuisen.

He added that the DA wold support Ramaphosa in rolling out the interventions and the economic reforms he had committed to.

Furthermore, Steenhuisen said the DA was also encouraged by the President’s announcement of a phased reopening of the economy, following a risk adjusted approach, based on scientific evidence.

“Broadly speaking, this appears to be a stimulus plan aimed at the right people and funded through the right means. Five hundred billion rand is a significant injection and, if executed correctly, could be the kick-start our economy needs to recover from the effects of Covid-19 and the lockdown. It is now important that the roll-out of these relief measures – as well as our progress in testing and tracing, and our hospital capacity – is communicated regularly and transparently,” he said.

COVID-19 TESTING

He advised that for reliable data to inform the phased reopening of the economy, daily virus testing had to be ramped up .

“We can only have that data if we are testing. We need far greater transparency on the number of tests being done, reasons for any delays in testing, results, as well as any obstacles that may be in the way of getting the testing up to that critical 17 000 tests per day. We also need to have an up-to-date [sense] of what our hospital capacity is and transparency around the roll-out of the economic stimulus package,” Steenhuisen said.

He said of significant concern was that a large portion of the money would be disseminated at a local government level, citing issues of capacity and accountability.

“Municipal councils and parliamentary portfolio committees to which the municipalities account to need to make sure that there are mechanisms put in place to make sure that every cent of the R500-billion stimulus package finds its way to South Africans who genuinely need the assistance and [that the money] doesn’t get channelled into the pockets or the households of the connected elite in South Africa,” Steenhuisen said.

He called for maximum vigilance in all spheres of government and also called on the President to make it mandatory for all South Africans to use cloth masks in public.

“The wearing of cloth masks is a cheap intervention which can yield significant results, particularly if we are going to practice social distancing [and] safe practices when the country starts to open up the economy,” he said.