OPINION - People tell me that we are on 21 days’ lockdown and I ask if they are talking about the curfew in some foreign land because it is definitely not happening in my part of the world.
My house is on a hilltop and I have a clear view of the N2 freeway, Springfield Park and parts of Parlock and Inanda Road, which leads to Newlands West and up to KwaMashu.
Every day I see almost the same volume of traffic on the N2 and Umgeni Road from the N2 off-ramp towards Makro as I normally did when our country was not on lockdown. It’s the same on Inanda Road.
I also see many people walking on the road instead of being at home.
As for the police and the army monitoring the lockdown, I have yet to see any of them in our area. If they are around, they certainly seem invisible.
India, with a population of over a billion people, has a low rate of coronavirus infections and deaths. How are they achieving this?
There is zero tolerance for people breaking the lockdown (regulations).
Those found in the streets without a valid reason are dealt with harshly and ruthlessly.
In South Africa we seem to have a laissez-faire attitude towards the pandemic.
Many are treating the lockdown as a holiday.
And a large number are taking advantage of the exception to do shopping for essential goods as an excuse to get out of the house when it is not necessary.
We have a bumbling transport minister who does not appear to be serious about his taxi rules, which he has changed about five times.
Then we have a man of the cloth who feels that money is more important than people's lives. He is agitating and lobbying church leaders to defy the government’s regulations and wants churches to be open as an essential service for the upcoming Easter weekend and other Sunday services.
If we are serious about our fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and our efforts on precautionary and preventive measures, we need to emulate the strong measures taken by the Indian government in its fight against this deadly disease.
We need to clamp down harshly on those who flout the law while the rest of the country abides by it.
Monty Govender Bakerville Gardens