I felt more than just a little deflated last week when the president announced the two-week extension to the national lockdown.
Funny thing is, I wasn’t surprised at all.
Like most of you, I am watching what’s happening elsewhere in the world very closely.
And considering what other world leaders are doing, having only a three-week lockdown here would’ve been short-sighted.
So like most people, I expected the president to announce an extension of at least one week.
But when he announced it, I couldn’t help, but feel a little emotional, just like I did two weeks earlier when he announced the initial lockdown.
It’s almost as if in the back of my mind, I had hoped that I would be wrong. That’s why I felt so deflated.
LEARNING: President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a lockdown extension until end of April
But not nearly as deflated as two of the unexpected consequences of lockdown.
As a journalist and broadcaster, few things surprise me, so I expected that there would be looting somewhere during the lockdown.
What I didn’t expect was the looting of alcohol.
As breaking open and ransacking shops is almost always an act of desperation, I can understand if it is food, but booze?!
And it is not as if these people were looking for solace, or purpose at the bottom of a bottle.
I don’t know for sure, but these strike me as functioning alcoholics desperate for a drink, instead of a meal.
It would be disappointing, if it wasn’t so sad watching grown men frantically beating down security doors, just so they can get to a case of beers.
It was like watching those stereotypical movie scenes of a junkie begging to do anything for a fix.
And I can only hope that the culprits get to see themselves in those videos and use the lockdown for a good long think about their lives and their values.
But none of that was as sad as reading about the Strandfontein issue that has been making headlines.
While there has been much compassion shown, there have also been some truly despicable social media comments about the homeless people who were moved to the sports grounds in the area, apparently without community consultation.
SYMPATHY: Homeless placed in Strandfontein were met with moans and controversy
There have been videos circulating of the people trying to leave the camp, but being forced by Metro cops to stay.
All this while the residents of Strandfontein have expressed sympathy for the plight of the homeless, but demanding that they be relocated elsewhere.
I understand their fears, but I also hope that they understand the fears of those who are much more vulnerable than themselves; people with no roof over their heads or the certainty of their next meal.
There has since been a rape of an 18-year-old girl at the camp, which has caused some political finger-pointing.
But we forget that with disaster often comes human depravity that isn’t really anyone’s fault.
I’m not going to claim to know the right answer.
But I do feel that a lot of people are losing sight of a very important aspect of the Covid-19 lockdown; and that is that this is unprecedented.
There is no template, because something like this has literally never happened before in our lifetimes.
And that is as true for us as it is for our leaders.
They are also learning what works and what doesn’t and we should allow them the space to do that.
And yes of course there’s going to be a know-it-all, whose ego will force him to say I-told-you-so.
But trust me, those are usually political point scoring, disguised as social justice.
I know everyone is scared and unsure about everything, but I don’t think that’s any reason for us to lose our compassion and empathy.
Right now we are experiencing some inconveniences, but when we lose that bit of our humanity, is when this will become a true disaster.