“Mr President, its now time to fight the unemployment pandemic with equal determination and courage”
Nearly five months ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed South Africans about his decision to implement a Hard Lockdown for 21 days.
While this was a difficult call, I believe it was the right decision. Our country needed time to prepare its healthcare systems so that every single person could get the healthcare they needed, when they needed it.
This is what we did in the Western Cape. We used the Lockdown period effectively, working around the clock to make sure that we had field hospitals up-and-running, adequate resources such as PPE and oxygen supplies, while implementing targeted hotspot interventions to contain the virus in our communities.
Our response, while not always perfect, has been characterised by a determination I have yet to witness in my years in government. We showed that it was possible to build a major hospital in a month, to work differently and smarter towards a common objective.
I am extremely grateful for this hard work, and I know that our government will never be the same again because of it. We have a long way to go still in our fight against Covid-19, which is likely to be around for some time still, but I am confident that we have the right team to continue on this fight with the same rigour as we have done to date.
However, we need to also be honest that the hard interventions taken to slow the spread of Covid-19 has allowed for a second, equally serious and potentially deadly pandemic to take root in our country. This is the pandemic of unemployment, hunger and increasing levels of poverty.
It has not received the same headlines, and there are no special disaster command councils meeting regularly to address it. It is more silent, and its effects likely more long-term to notice. But it will also cost lives in the future if we don’t fight it with the same determination as we have done with Covid-19 to date.
As I argued when our government petitioned the President to move the Western Cape to level 3, we cannot view our response to this pandemic as a zero-sum game. We need to fight Covid-19, and we need to work with the private sector and our people to allow for the safe opening of the economy. The virus is not going to go away, and so the sooner we all adapt to the new normal the better.
Some two months later, I will again petition the President at the President’s Coordinating Council to allow all businesses that can open safely to do so, following clear health guidelines. This is the only way we can effectively stop the unemployment pandemic from gaining momentum and claiming lives.
This, like the decision to take South Africa into Hard Lockdown, will be a hard one. But I will argue to the President that the same courage he demonstrated then, will be needed now. I know that there are some who will be opposed to it, and there are many people who are very scared. Leadership requires us to make these tough calls, following the best advice possible, in the interests of our people.
And, we must be under no illusion that if we don’t do this now, this second pandemic will gain more and more momentum, being increasingly difficult to turn around. We are not a first world country, and we do not have reserves to spend ourselves out of this global crisis. We have to give the private sector the space to help us do this.
During our Bosberaad this weekend, our cabinet and provincial heads of department received a detailed report from the Western Cape Government’s Head of Police and Strategy, Dr Hildegarde Fast, on what this second pandemic looks like. It was a sobering analysis that left the entire room silent.
I want to share these stats with you, as I will with the President. We need to put a face to this pandemic, and we need to understand that it is equally dangerous and deadly.
Our cabinet heard the following:
The losses in income and employment have hit poorest people the hardest in South Africa, with the poorest 10% experiencing the greatest percentage of over 55% reduction in employment .
Recent research shows that the percentage of people who have run out of money for food in the last year has likely increased from 25% to 47% in our country.
We expect the percentage of ‘children going hungry over the past 7 days’ to nearly double from 8.0% to 15.2% in South Africa.
The NIDS-CRAM survey estimates that 3 million people in South Africa lost their jobs during the initial Lockdown period between February 2020 and April 2020.
Women accounted for two-thirds of this total, although they make up half the workforce. Job losses impacted the poor and vulnerable to a greater degree.
Our National Economy is expected to contract by 7.2% at least.
In the Western Cape, we expect employment to drop by 8.4% in 2020, and then to only grow by 1.9% in 2021. A major net loss.
In the Western Cape, our tourism sector is expected to lose 104 504 jobs (60% of the sector) in 2020.
The informal sector is expected to lose 38 276 jobs in the Western Cape (13% of the sector) in 2020.
Due to higher levels of inequality, which contributes to increases in violent crime, we could see murder increase by 3.45% to 3.75% solely due to Covid-19.
NGOs are reporting an increase in Gender Based Violence reports since Lockdown eased and a change in the nature of reports: more aggressive behaviour due to increase in stress.
Insofar as Education is concerned, up to 7 August 2020:
Grade 7 and 12s have lost 25% of school days due to closures
Grades 1,2,3,5,10,11 have lost 41% of school days due to closures
Grades 4,5,8,9 have lost 57% of school days to closures.
The consequences of this on the future of our children is significant. If youth increasingly stay out of school, it increases the risk of dropping out and the risk of not completing matric. This will affect a young person’s chances of getting a skilled job after leaving school.
In the healthcare system:
We are also seeing a real impact on mental health. During this pandemic, 60% of people in South Africa have indicated that they are stressed, 46% are scared, and 29% are lonely. The most vulnerable during Lockdown are particularly at risk due to loss of income.
We expect to see continued levels of anxiety, depression and substance abuse as a result of this in future. This will result in a loss of productivity, an increase in child-headed households, school dropouts and exposure to physical and emotional violence.
Due to Covid-19, we have also seen 68% fewer persons visiting primary healthcare facilities in the Cape Town Metro and 37% in the Rural areas.
We have also seen a 22% reduction in immunisations and a 36% in reduction in screening for Tuberculosis.
This is the face of the second pandemic ravaging our province and country, and one which we must also fight and win against. The Western Cape Government will be doing all it can to ensure we address these challenges. But it will become harder to achieve if people continue to lose their jobs.
The only real option we have now is to prevent a jobs bloodbath, and to allow all businesses that can open safely to do so.
This does not mean we stop the fight against Covid-19. That fight continues and will require every single person in our country to behave differently as we adapt to this new normal. It does mean, however, that we have to now focus on the economy and saving jobs to much a greater degree.
Mr President, its now time to fight the second unemployment pandemic with equal determination and courage. You will have the Western Cape Government’s support.
“CTICC Field Hospital to be decommissioned and Brackengate to become central Covid-19 ‘Hospital of Hope’”
Many areas in the Western Cape have passed its peak, and we are recording a decline in hospitalisations, deaths, and the percentage of positive tests overall.
The combined capacity of hospitals in the Cape Town Metro (including non-Covid-19 patients) is stable at 69%.
Our field hospitals capacity is as follows:
The Hospital of Hope at the CTICC currently has 57 admissions, down from 91 last week.
The Brackengate facility has 54 admissions, up from 47 admissions last week.
The Khayelitsha Thusong Centre Field Hospital has officially been closed, and there are no longer any admissions at this facility. The MSF has moved the capacity to the Eastern Cape. Patients needing Covid-19 treatment will be provided healthcare at the Khayelitsha Hospital or at Brackengate.
We will admit the first patients to the 63 bed Sonstraal Hospital in the Winelands today.
Additional bed capacity is also being added in Hermanus (32), Vredendal (20) and George (20).
Given the capacity in our health platform, the decline of cases in the Metro in particular, the expiry of the contract to use CTICC in September, and the low number of admissions at our field hospitals generally, we have taken the decision to decommission the CTICC facility.
The facility which has a capacity of 864 beds currently has less than 60 admissions, and we have adequate capacity at the 330 bed Brackengate facility to accommodate patients.
The last patient date for the CTICC will be the 18th August, with the aim of closing the facility by mid-September. Patients will start being moved to Brackengate facility, which assumes the title of our Hospital of Hope, from tomorrow, 14 August.
I still remember visiting the facility in June, and again with the President, and being at awe at what was achieved in so little time.
Since opening its doors, it has welcomed 1 502 patients for treatment, discharging 95% (1440 patients) to date. Unfortunately, 82 people died at the facility. It has made the most notable difference to our Covid-19 response, allowing for acute care capacity to open up at our main hospitals. In doing so, it has saved the lives of many people in our province.
To every nurse, official, doctor, cleaner and admin clerk involved in this Hospital of Hope, I want you to know that you will all go down in history for what you have done for the people of the Western Cape. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
We will be organising a proper closing event for the facility to thank all those involved, and more details will follow in due course.
“We need to prevent a second wave of Covid-19 by changing our behaviour”
As we have seen in other places around the world, Covid-19 is not going away anytime soon. Until such stage as there is a vaccine, there is a potential for new waves of Covid-19 infections.
Our health department is planning for this new normal, to ensure that we will be able to provide healthcare to every person who needs it when they need it. The Brackengate Hospital of Hope is central to this.
We are also continuing with our hotspot containment strategy, centred on effecting the behaviour change needed to prevent new waves.
For this to be successful, we need the help of every person and business. We have to continue to follow the golden rules at all times, otherwise Covid-19 infections will start to increase again.
So, please, please, always:
Wear a clean cloth mask whenever in public
Cough or sneeze into a tissue or the corner of your arm
Keep a distance from others, of at least 1.5 metres
Wash your hands regularly with soap and water, or use hand sanitizer
Properly clean surfaces around you
Stay home if you are sick and call our hotline on 021 928 4102 for more advice. (If you are diabetic, and you start getting sick, you must get tested right away. If you are battling to breath you must seek urgent healthcare.)
