[imagesource: Gallo Images / Phill Magakoe]

For a while there, it seemed like open letters went out of fashion.

Which I’m fine with, because we all know the point of an open letter is not really to reach those the letter writer addresses, anyway.

Then, during the past week, two open letters gained a great deal of traction online, and sparked widespread debate and discussion.

The first of those is Gareth Cliff’s ‘Dear Mr President…’, and I will say no more about it.

Moving swiftly on to the second open letter, this time written by South African marketing guru Mike Abel. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the name, the Daily Maverick’s bio says Mike is “the Founder & Chief Executive of M&Saatchi Abel and the M&C Saatchi Group of companies operating in Africa. He is the former CEO of M&C Saatchi Group, Australia and before that, co-led the Ogilvy South Africa Group as COO and Group Managing Director, Cape Town”.

Mike (above) has been sharing his views on Facebook, and his recent open letter, addressed to Ministers Dlamini-Zuma, Patel and Cele (but CC’d with President Ramaphosa, Dr Mkhize and all South Africans, so you don’t feel left out), really took off.

You no doubt recognise the names of Dlamini-Zuma and Cele, and Patel refers to Ebrahim Patel, our Minister of Trade and Industry.

Mike’s open letter is long, and you can read it in full here, but let’s pluck a few of the salient points out:

When President Ramaphosa asked the country to go into a 3 week lockdown, we heeded his call. When he asked for another 2 weeks, we again heeded his call.

This lockdown had only one purpose. To keep people at home whilst our health services prepared for an onslaught of what this virus may bring in terms of illness and death…

We did not go into a 3 + 2 week lockdown for it to be extended beyond that point, but just in a different guise. We went into it with the agreement of giving our health services time to prepare. No more. No less.

And yet here we find ourselves, somehow being treated like naughty children and yourselves being our self-appointed parents. You have determined what we can and can’t buy, you have threatened taking us back to Level 5 if we don’t behave and you have overreached in terms of your controls.

If you’ve begun to feel like some of the lockdown rules now in place are done less to help us, and more to control us, you’re not alone.

The 8PM to 5AM curfew is overkill, and the seemingly arbitrary nature of flip-flopping between decisions like when to return to school have seen many South Africans growing increasingly frustrated over the past week or so.

Don’t get the smokers started, either, although even non-smokers have been outspoken against the cigarette sales ban on alert level 4.

Back to Mike:

Now we have only one question to ask. The only reason behind the lockdown.

Has our health department successfully used the 5 weeks of lockdown (at a cost of R tens of billions daily to our country and resulting in millions of further unemployment) to prepare for the possible onslaught on Covid-19? And that is in addition to the plane-full of Cuban doctors you have brought here?

…Now, I have stated time and time again that I fully supported the 5 week lockdown. I have been one of President Ramaphosa’s greatest cheerleaders, I fully suport Dr Mkhize and Professor Karim and their teams in trying to curb this virus. But let’s not confuse this as an opportunity to change your compact with the citizens of a Democratic South Africa. You are not the “ruling party”, but an elected party answerable to the citizens, as governed by our Constitution…

We are not your naughty children. In fact, quite the reverse. It is us who have paid our taxes and tried our level best to keep the wheels of our country turning over the years the Zupta forces tried to loot it blind. It is you who have to regain our trust – not vice versa.

I am desperate for the poorest of our country. They need to return to work so that the horror of poverty and starvation doesn’t dramatically eclipse the potential death toll of Covid. At this rate we may indeed end up with both – as opposed to one.

In closing, I repeat, this 5 week lockdown was purely to give our health services time to prepare. No more. No less. Understand that fact and work with us to create the best situation, not the worst.

We have learnt many things about South Africa, and ourselves, during the national lockdown, not least of which is how everybody is suddenly an expert on social media.

That being said, much of what Mike says will resonate with citizens, many of whom are now starting to wonder when our freedoms will be restored.

A concerned group of actuaries, an economist, lawyers, a medical doctor, a data specialist and a statistics lecturer have also come out and said that an extended lockdown would lead to a “humanitarian disaster to dwarf COVID-19”.

The alert level systems are perhaps a necessary evil, because we cannot think we will return to full normality any time soon without massive health repercussions, but there is no use for such draconian levels, and digging in of heels on seemingly arbitrary fronts.

I don’t have much time for those who scream ‘but the economy’ with scant regard for human life, but it is time some of our leaders ease off the power trip pedal and plot a sustainable plan going forward. The situation is ever-changing – that’s a given – but a degree of transparency has been sorely lacking in recent times.

Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel dismissed the concerns of many economists as a “thumb-suck” and “guesstimates” this past weekend (read more here), once again drawing great ire.

There is no easy fix here, and our plight is not unique, with many countries facing very similar struggles.

Perhaps the biggest issue is that trust between government and citizens in this country remains bottom of the barrel, and some ministers are giving little reason for us to change that mindset.

For a response to Mike’s open letter, written by Nkululeko Mvulana, head here.

[sources:dailymaverick&mikeabel]