President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the decision to ease restrictions on the lockdown, saying the economy was already on its knees with R300 billion in taxes going down the drain.
However, the continued lockdown would have crippled the economy, said Ramaphosa during a virtual Parliament question and answer session yesterday.
“As a result of the economy having been closed down, the taxes that have to be paid, all those have gone down.
“The big hole we have is R300bn, the R300bn that would have supported services,” said Ramaphosa.
He said continuing with the lockdown would have completely wiped out the taxes.
Almost all the questions posed to him dealt with the government’s response to the pandemic and the economic impact of the national lockdown.
EFF leader Julius Malema said it was clear to his party that the government’s approach on the lockdown was not motivated by scientific advice, but rather by profits.
But Ramaphosa dismissed this.
“Our lockdown was hard, we went on to restrict other things that other countries did not, like banning alcohol and cigarettes,” he said.
“As we moved from level 5, the consultations were quite broad and detailed.
Thumbsucked
“All we have done was not thumbsucked. It was benchmarked by the advice we got from the World Health Organisation.”
In response to the question from the IFP on which measures the government was taking to ensure funds set aside for the pandemic were not misused, Ramaphosa said steps haves been taken to protect the R500 billion rescue package from being looted.
“Of course, corruption remains a challenge to our country. Even as we announced this R500 billion for relief, I took the time to speak to the auditor-general that we put in place mechanisms.
“The Auditor-General took his time to come up with a number of rules. We have also been disturbed that things such as food parcels have been misused,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the decision to open schools was not easy, but scientists had advised that it was possible to do so.
“The virus will be with us for a long time, we need to live with the virus and adjust the risks,” he said.