‘Death visits us all at some stage’: DA’s WC leader pushes to end lockdown

How reassuring. DA Western Cape leader Bongikosi Madikizela has set out to ruffle a few feathers on Sunday morning, after listing his reasons for advancing the province into a lighter level of lockdown.

DA in Western Cape demand ‘move to Level 3’

Despite now serving as South Africa’s coronavirus epicentre, Madikizela still believes it’s of vital importance to reopen the economy regardless of the situation. The politician argues that this spike in infections has occurred while tight restrictions are already in place, claiming that the hard lockdown isn’t having its desired impact:

“The ANC has found a new way to fulfill a long-time wish to control the people of SA. They’ve become power-drunk and don’t want to let go of that power. The prolonging of the lockdown is about having control and power over people, and not about our interests. Remaining at any level of lockdown won’t stop the spread.”

“The number of infections in the Western Cape occurred under level 5 and level 4 of the lockdown. Therefore, what difference will it make to remain under level 4? The Western Cape has a targeted approach in terms of testing. We know where the majority of cases are, and we have enough capacity on case management.”

Bongikosi Madikizela

Lockdown: Comments on death may land Madikizela in hot water

Madikizela didn’t ease off in his reasoning, either. Brazenly, the Western Cape figure stated that ‘death comes to us all’, and therefore, South Africans must ‘avoid living in fear’.

The comments are guaranteed to split opinion, but Bongikosi Madikizela won’t back down on this one. In fact, he believes that Gauteng will soon overtake the Western Cape for newly-registered coronavirus infections soon. The province has recently endured an outbreak in several disease hot-spots:

“Death is something that will visit all of us at some stage, and we can’t stop living our lives because we are scared. We’ve put enough infrastructure in place for quarantine and isolation. We understand that the number of infections will increase – but lockdown only ensures that our health infrastructure isn’t overwhelmed.”

“Just yesterday the Premier of Gauteng announced that there are emerging hotspots areas in his province. What we are seeing in the Western Cape will soon be happening in other provinces like Gauteng as well. It’s not a reflection of incompetence as the ANC suggests, it is an inevitable upsurge of the coronavirus.”

Bongikosi Madikizela