Ramaphosa urges vaccine mandate to help restart economy
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday.
JOHANNESBURG – The ANC urged the government to finalise a policy on vaccine mandates for certain settings and activities as it seeks to fully reopen the coronavirus-battered economy.
“The success of our economic recovery depends to a large measure on our ability to effectively manage Covid-19, as this virus is likely to remain part of our lives for the foreseeable future,” President Cyril Ramaphosa, who heads the African National Congress, said at a rally in the northern town of Polokwane on Saturday that marked the 110th anniversary of the party’s founding.
South Africa contracted the most in at least two decades in 2020 and unemployment surged to a record 35 percent last year as virus-related lockdowns shuttered businesses, stalled trade, and weighed on tax revenue.
The government started offering Covid-19 booster shots in December, even with only about 45 percent of adults fully vaccinated.
The government started paying a temporary social relief grant to jobless people during the pandemic.
With the payments due to end in March, ANC ministers and academics have proposed the introduction of a permanent basic income grant in one of the world’s most unequal societies. The big sticking point is how it should be funded within a stretched national budget.
There’s a clear need for some form of income support for the unemployed and poor, based on affordability and sustainability, Ramaphosa said.
“This in many ways is what is causing comrade Enoch Godongwana to lose more and more of his hair,” Ramaphosa said, referring to the finance minister. This very issue “is standing as a huge challenge that we have to find some resources for,” he said. – BLOOMBERG NEWS.
