Durban - In dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, President Cyril Ramaphosa has been open and honest.
It was no different when he addressed us on Monday night and proclaimed: “This is uncharted territory for us all.”
He added: “We have never experienced a situation like this before and a number of mistakes will be made, but we ask for our people’s understanding that all this is being done for the good of everyone. We will continue to correct the mistakes wherever they are made.”
As much as the government’s handling of the pandemic has been exemplary, we can’t say for sure how many South Africans will test positive in the coming weeks and months. Neither can we say how many will die.
The only certainty for those who survive is that life would have changed fundamentally. It is our new reality.
In the past few weeks, working-class South Africans have become a lot poorer following the crash of stock markets across the world.
Money saved through pension funds and retirement annuities are invested in the stock market and when these fall, savings diminish.
Those with money in the bank, like retirees, will earn less now that the Reserve Bank has dropped interest rates.
And they will probably fall even further.
By the time the shutdown ends, we don’t know how many people will have jobs.
This includes business owners who might not have had enough cash reserves to pay rent or other expenses while closed.
Workers and businesses pay two-thirds of all taxes collected in our country. The other third comes from VAT. However, with fewer people earning a salary, VAT collections will fall.
This year we were expected to raise just over R1.5 billion in taxes but projected to spend just over R1.9bn. We were going to borrow the shortfall.
However, that just became a lot more expensive given that, this week, Moody’s reduced South Africa to junk status. The other two big ratings agencies had us at junk three years ago.
It was the culmination of what went wrong under the Zuma administration. And many of those in the government, including Ramaphosa, must bear responsibility for the rot they allowed to set in.
They did not respect our hard-earned taxes. They allowed a few to enrich themselves at the expense of others.
As a result, the government does not have the finances to help us. We are at the mercy of the Ruperts, the Oppenheimers, the Motsepes and other benevolent individuals and organisations.
Ramaphosa was right when he said we are in uncharted territory. He was also right when he said mistakes will be made.
However, this time unemployed and starving South Africans might not be as forgiving as they have been in the past 25 years.