It is now just over a week into our 21-day lockdown and, by all accounts, apart from a few problems, many of which were not unexpected, South Africans appear to have embraced our new normal. We are becoming accustomed to spending time at home with our families and, sometimes, learning to know and understand each other better.
While we are separated from society, extended family and friends, we are finding ways to connect without having to be physically close to each other. For instance, I have taken to calling some people that I have not seen in a while just to ask them how they are doing.
The pace of life in the 21st century is such that often we neglect to take time out for ourselves and we do not appreciate the little, beautiful things that happen around us.
But while we appear, in the main, to be accepting of the restrictions imposed on us by the lockdown regulations, I have realised that there are many people who are counting down the 21 days.
But, what if? This is the question that nobody dares talk about. What if the spread of the coronavirus does not decrease significantly in the next two weeks and government sees the need to prolong the lockdown period?
It is highly likely that the government might feel the need to do this, like has happened in several other countries, but they will do so at great cost to society, and not only economic.
I fear that there will be people who had psyched themselves up to suffer for 21 days only, and whether they would be able to tolerate any longer is debatable.
Most people, no matter how understanding they might be, have limits on their willingness to sacrifice. This could lead to a host of social problems.
I found myself thinking back to 1985 when I was one of thousands throughout South Africa who were detained under the emergency regulations.
The successive states of emergency imposed by the apartheid government were cruel and nothing that our democratic government has done so far, despite complaints from some quarters, can come close to what we suffered in those days.
When you were detained under the emergency regulations, the police did not have to tell anyone where they were keeping you and they did not have to tell you how long they were keeping you.
They could imprison you anywhere, even in other parts of the country, without anyone knowing where you were. The only way people would know where you were was when someone who was in prison with you, was released and they could inform your lawyers or your family.
The police used these regulations to punish us even more. Sometimes they would come into the large communal cells where we were held and tell someone to pack his bags. They would not say where he was going, but his expectation would be that he was being released.
Sometimes he would just be taken to another cell. Sometimes he would fill in all the necessary forms to be discharged from the prison and, when he stepped outside, he would be detained again and taken back inside. Other times, the police would put him in the back of a police van and drive him to another prison where he would be kept for another indefinite period.
Making everyone think that the lockdown is only going to last for 21 days – and that they would be able to buy alcohol and cigarettes, and walk their dogs or go jog afterwards – and then extending it at the last minute, will fill the nation with the same kind of despair that we felt when police would play with our emotions during the states of emergency.
One can only hope that the President and the people around him will communicate clearly with everyone that, failure to bring down the infection rate because people ignored the lockdown rules, could necessitate an extension of the lockdown period. That will hopefully make people realise the folly of not abiding by the regulations. The message is quite clear: Stay at home. Or else.
(First published as a Thinking Allowed column in the Weekend Argus on Saturday 4 April 2020)
