South African President Says Government Has No Money To Support Families Hit By COVID-19

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday made a shocking revelation that his government has no money to support families left with no income as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

Almost all economic activities stopped in March due to the government’s strict lockdown. The ban on sale of alcohol, which was taken back in July last year, has been re-imposed recently due to a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases.

“We do not have the money, that’s a simple truth that has to be put out there, we are constrained from a financing point of view,” Ramaphosa said during an interview with Eyewitness News.

South Africa’s alcohol, hospitality and tourism sectors are under immense pressure after the president moved the country from level 1 to level 3 lockdown. There is the danger of a humanitarian crisis as various industries are shedding jobs due to economic loss.

The South African president said that the relief measures that were announced last year amounted to about 10% of the country’s GDP, which is quite big for a country like South Africa. He said that the government is currently at a stage where it has to fund the vaccines, which is going to amount to a lot of money as well.

The South African government is working to get 20 million doses of coronavirus vaccines are in the first quarter of this year mainly via three sources- the African Union arrangement, the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX, co-led by the World Health Organization), and direct deals with manufacturers. The vaccines would be coming from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and portions from Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

South Africa, which is currently witnessing a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, has recorded the most coronavirus infections and deaths in the African continent so far, at roughly 1.31 million.