Why cops can’t stop Covid-19 election super spreaders

The South African Police Service (SAPS) says while it does everything it can, it can’t stop election campaign events from becoming Covid-19 super spreaders.

Free State provincial police spokesperson Warrant Officer Mmako Mophiring has described the large political gatherings which took place around the province this weekend as largely ‘peaceful’ and well-controlled under the circumstances. It is, however, up to organisers to make sure that their events are controlled in terms of Covid-19 protocol, he says.

Social media reactions to mainly the events of the ANC campaigns featuring President Cyril Ramaphosa and EFF leader Julius Malema suggested concerns around how close together people were standing – at times in their thousands – at stadiums, open fields and smaller venues.

We are in Maluti A Phofung this morning and the President has received a great welcome. #BuildingBetterCommunities pic.twitter.com/YHTY79Njpm

— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) October 17, 2021

On Sunday, thousands of ANC supporters poured into Intabazwe Stadium in Harrismith to hear Ramaphosa, according to the Sowetan. The videos coming from the events sparked debate about whether political parties cared about the safety of those coming out in big numbers to support them. Covid-19 regulations limit large gatherings to 2,000 people.

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Although masks were seen more often than not, says Mophiring, it would have been impossible to determine if people were maintaining social distancing and sanitising.

The wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing in public spaces is mandated by law in terms of the National Disaster Management Act Covid-19 regulations which were updated on the 11th of October in terms of Alert level 1.

The regulations state that in order to limit exposure to Covid-19, every person attending a gathering must:

• Wear a face mask;
• Adhere to all health protocols;
• Maintain a distance of at least one and a half metres from each other;
• Adhere to the curfew hours as provided for in regulation 66, and adhere to any other health protocols and social distancing measures as provided for in directions issued by the relevant Cabinet member after consultation with the Cabinet member responsible for health

Some footage seen on traditional and social media this weekend had some people worried that campaign events are fast becoming the purveyors of the fourth wave of Covid-19 infections.

Sociologist Narnia Bohler Muller says she was concerned about this very issue when the Constitutional Court upheld that the elections go ahead this year instead of the proposed postponement to next year.

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“Political parties need to campaign and large gatherings are a huge risk with only only quarter of adult South Africans fully vaccinated. It’s just not enough. So these are potential superspreaders and we will see many more in the next two weeks leading up to election day,” says Bohler-Muller.

Election day may be the biggest risk factor of all, she warns.

“In fact, our research has shown that people are reluctant to go to voting stations. So we will have to see what happens. If too few South Africans vote it may not be a free and fair election anyway.”

Mophiring says Free State police were kept busy monitoring the events of the EFF and the ANC, whose campaigns intensified in mostly rural areas of the province over the weekend.

The immense pull-factor of figures such as Malema and Ramaphosa, regardless of political affiliation, inevitably results in larger crowds, he adds. As such, there were no arrests made this weekend in relation to Covid-19 laws, but the officer is confident that people largely appear to have done the bare minimum of wearing masks.

“Unfortunately for the weekend, we don’t have any people arrested in terms of the Covid-19 regulations. The fact is that due to the visits or campaigns taking place in a number of places we were policing a number of events,” says Mophiring.

On Saturday, the EFF held events all across eastern Free State including Senekal, Bethlehem and QwaQwa.

Associate professor of sociology at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Carin Runciman advises that political parties should not be restricted from political campaign activities because they are crucial to elections being free and fair.

Rather than restricting political election campaign activities, politicians should use their rallies as an opportunity to promote vaccinations as well as the non-medical prevention methods such as wearing a mask and social distancing.

“We have all seen from the UJ/SA Human Rights Council survey that ANC supporters are people are much more willing to vaccinate than those of the DA and the EFF and I think if politIcal parties can combine their political campaigning with sending positive messages about vaccination this would do a lot to offset some of the potential risks of party political campaigning.”

Professor Carin Runciman

Simnikiweh@citizen.co.za