Political Analyst Professor Somadoda Fikeni says it is not surprising that some political parties continue to have different views about the developments surrounding COVID-19 in South Africa.
This, after the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) accused President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Department of Health of manipulating the COVID-19 statistics in order to justify the easing of the lockdown to alert Level 2 while the Democratic Alliance (DA) has always been vocal in calling for a complete opening of the country’s economy.
Professor Fikeni says this is because some parties have different mandates given to them by their electorate in the past general elections, and thus they will always say what their constituencies expect them to say.
“One would imagine that workers such as teachers and workers in different factories which EFF may be targeting and having interest on might be anxious about their own health and the sense of vulnerability whereas your business sectors such your alcohol and your tobacco services might be putting pressure on political parties such as the DA,” says Fikeni.
South Africa currently has 587 345 coronavirus cases. So far 472 377 people have recovered from the virus. More than 11 000 people have succumbed to the virus.
Below are the latest stats:
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