Covid-19 lockdown: 50 people have died in police custody or as a result of police action, says Institute of Race Relations

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) held a press briefing on ‘keeping liberty alive through Covid-19 and beyond’ today (May 14).

Head of policy research, Dr Anthea Jeffery spoke on various issues including the lockdown, deployment of police and soldiers, threats to free speech, forcing people into state quarantine and more.

In her presentation, Dr Jeffery referenced research that stressed that a lockdown of indefinite duration could see the GDP down by 16% or 17% and 7 million jobs lost.

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She also said that the hard lockdown has failed to prevent transmission in areas such as Khayelitsha which saw a 3 300% increase in detected infections in April, she said.

She cited two research polls. The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) poll found that 24% of people lack money to buy food. So too do 55% of those in informal settlements and two thirds of township residents. The Victory Research poll showed that 79% of those in informal settlements struggle to get food and other essentials.

Questions were also raised on the validity of the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC).

“There is no clear constitutional or legal authority for the NCCC,” she said. Dr Jeffery also discussed a letter from 2 advocates to President Cyril Ramaphosa in which they question how the NCCC was established and what its powers are.

During the lockdown there have been abuses by some policemen and soldiers, said Dr Jeffery. Fifty people have died in police custody or as a result of police action between March 26 and May 5. In one incident, Collins Khosa was beaten by soldiers in Alexandra on April 10 and died soon after. Dr Jeffery said it seems those responsible have still not been suspended.

Some 73,000 SANDF members have been deployed by the president until the end of June and will also help with screening, water supply and other logistical matters.

Threats to free speech and the right to information were also discussed, including the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA) model of 87 900 to 351 000 Covid-19 deaths being kept under wraps.  Dr Jeffery said likewise with all more recent modelling of likely Covid-19 fatalities, which means data can’t be scrutinised and could be skewed.

It was pointed out that there are major penalties for fake news about the virus or the state’s response. She talked about the harsh ANC criticism of Rapport for ‘misinformation’ and not being ‘loyal to the truth’ on a story that was accurate. Two eNCA anchors were also removed from air after criticism of Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Another aspect was that of forcing people into state quarantine. Two examples were given, the first of 2 doctors living in Limpopo who tested positive for Covid-19 and who were forced from self-isolation at home into state quarantine at Modimolle NDR-TB facility. In the second case, 10 people suspected of infection were forcibly detained at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp.

Dr Jeffery also quoted health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize who this week said people who test positive must go to state field hospitals or other state quarantine sites even if asymptomatic (but not if they can self-isolate). As such she said, level 4 regulations have highly coercive powers to force people into state quarantine with only limited provision for self -isolation at home.

According to Dr Jeffery, the lockdown has impacted economic freedom in that all businesses need government consent to operate. Some 80% were barred under level 5 and about 60% under level 4.

Also, unemployment could reach 7 million or over 50%, many businesses will never re-open, and GDP could shrink by 30% if level 4 stays to December.

“From one level to the next, the government only looks at health criteria, the spread of the virus and health system readiness and not economic criteria,” said Dr Jeffery.

Freedoms have been restricted but with few gains. According to Dr Jeffery, even level 5 cannot slow transmissions in townships.  She talked about research that showed the rate of infection ‘R’ is still above 1, so each infected person is still infecting more than 1 person and the virus will continue to spread. Some 26,000 new infections are expected by the end of June, according to Prof Alex van den Heever, health economist at Wits University.

To halt the spread, about 80% of contacts must be traced and the test results must be in within 24 hours to do this. South Africa, she said,  takes 7 to 14 days to get test results back – far too late to trace. The lockdown started before test/trace capacity was in place which is a key error, according to the IRR.

It was also pointed out that by reducing Covid-19 deaths, other deaths are being increased. The lockdown aims to prevent 1 million falling ill and 10,000 deaths but deaths will be fewer if the infection fatality rate is between 0.1% and 0.4%.

According to the IRR, the increased hunger, and poverty from lockdown will push up deaths from TB (28 700 deaths in 2017) as well as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, HIV, and malnutrition. Non-Covid-19 deaths will likely far exceed Covid-19 deaths.

The lockdown rules infringe many guaranteed rights: dignity, equality, movement, assembly, which  must be reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society,  Dr Jeffery said. She added it is important to challenge every unreasonable and unjustifiable rule and the constitutionality of the lockdown as a whole.

She cautioned that the ANC seems to welcome the ‘total destruction’ of the economy, as this will allow it to be ‘reconstructed’ under major state control and with ‘radical economic transformation’ as its foundation.

Dr Jeffery also said the since 1960s, ANC/SACP alliance has been committed to a National Democratic Revolution (NDR) aimed at slowly taking SA from capitalism to socialism (and ultimately communism).

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