PARTIAL LOCKDOWN WAY TO GO

Sir,

Please allow me to express my sentiments regarding the partial lockdown announced by government last week. First of all I have to thank the Government of Eswatini for taking such a stand regarding means of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed the partial lockdown is the way to go to avoid a catastrophe in our small country. Government decided to enforce a partial lockdown, understandably so because our country is small and if it were completely shut down our economy would suffer greatly. Unfortunately, it would seem that people do not understand why government decided to enforce the partial lockdown.

Noted

Since last Friday we have noted some areas still full with people not observing the precautionary measures taught by the Ministry of Health and other organisations. The newspapers are full of pictures indicating people doing business as usual. It was even stated in one newspaper that in Mbabane it was better, but in Manzini it was business as usual. Indeed in Manzini, by 11am on Monday March 30, 2020, you would see people congested in and outside shops. Unfortunately, even those shops I thought would be closed were opened. Perhaps I do not know the meaning of partial lockdown. Along the streets, you could see the youth in groups obviously not in any serious business as described in the guidelines for the partial lockdown. They were literally loitering. The pavements were full of people and social distancing was totally non-existent.  

To me, it seems a number of people do not understand what is a partial lockdown. My suggestion is; unless the uniformed forces start to enforce the partial lockdown, we will continue to infect each other. We need to once again ascertain whether we need all these business outlets to operate. Let’s choose between life and death. The success of the partial lockdown will not come easy. People do not want to cooperate with the authorities regarding the partial lockdown. Perhaps we needed to start with a total lockdown for 10 days and then later effect the partial lockdown for another 10 days. People would then appreciate the ‘partial’. Otherwise, the partial lockdown is on paper but not being implemented.  Can I implore the armed forces to start enforcing the partial lockdown. It may not be nice but we will appreciate later

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