Thousands of South Africans have taken to Twitter in response to the two-week extension to the nationwide lockdown announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday night.
Ramaphosa said the extension was necessary to ensure that the positive results in halting the spread of the coronavirus are not outdone by premature moves to end the lockdown.
“As your president, I am mindful of the great and heavy burden this will impose on you. I am keenly aware of the affect this will have on our economy.”
He said that SA had to “hold the course a little longer”.
“We all want the economy to come back to life, we want people to return to work, we want our children to go back to school, and we all want to be able to move freely again. But our immediate priority must remain to slow down the spread of the virus and to prevent a huge loss of life.”
Pay cuts
Speaking about the Solidarity Fund established to mobilise resources and funds, Ramaphosa said R2.2bn had so far been raised.
He said bearing in mind the principle of solidarity, the president, deputy president, ministers and deputy ministers would take a one-third pay cut in their salaries over the next three months.
“This portion of their salaries will be donated to the Solidarity Fund. We are calling on other public office bearers and executives of large companies to make a similar gesture and to further increase the reach of this national effort.”
Here's what is dominating social media talk.
Applause for 'Uncle Cyril'
