The South African Police, Metro Police and military were all called upon by President Cyril Ramaphosa to assist in ensuring that the 21-day national lockdown is enforced, but those rules seemingly do not apply to everyone.
Over 2 000 South Africans have been arrested for violating the lockdown regulations. This number, however, does not include former deputy minister of Higher Education Mduduzi Manana and minister of Communications Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams who met for a "luncheon" early this week.
A photo of minister Ndabeni-Abrahams sitting around a table with Manana and his supposed family was tweeted by the latter.
Police minister Bheki Cele had announced that anyone found violating the lockdown regulations would either be fined, arrested or both and in true South African fashion, many were arrested. The violations some were arrested for included but were not limited to unnecessary movements and visits.
The President got wind of minister Ndabeni-Abrahams’ outing and duly called her to account. The minister was then put on a two-month special leave in which one month would be without pay and she also issued a public apology.
But is it really fair that South Africans are taken away from society and imprisoned for violating the lockdown regulations but a leader in the government gets away with a slap on the wrist for also violating the very same regulations?
The decision of the President was welcomed by opposition parties with some of them calling for the arrest of the minister.
This is not the first minister to apologise for unbecoming behaviour.
Social Development minister Lindiwe Zulu also had to apologise for making statements, before the lockdown, about not wanting to stay home during this time.
It is clear that some of our leaders are not taking this as seriously as they should, as some ministers can also be seen addressing the media without practicing social distancing.
The number of infections were on Wednesday sitting on 1 845 with 18 deaths. The law needs to be enforced upon every South African, including those in power.
Images: ewn.co.za & citizen.co.za
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