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Anger over lockdown rules and regulations had already been stewing for weeks, but when President Ramaphosa announced that religious gatherings of up to 50 people would be allowed under alert level 3, it was the final straw for many.

Some religious leaders themselves spoke out against the decision, calling it “illogical” and “a bad decision by the president”.

There are a number of examples of ‘super spreader’ events around the world linked to religious gatherings, and the success of any lockdown relies on the general public being on board and adhering to the regulations in place.

Clearly, a great deal of public buy-in was lost when Ramaphosa announced his decision, and questions were asked around why people can’t visit a friend or family member (which I’m OK with because we’re fighting a deadly pandemic), but can gather with 49 other strangers in an enclosed space to worship.

Zapiro took it one step further, with his cartoon featured on the Daily Maverick earlier in the week:

As you can imagine, the comments on Facebook were an absolute mess.

Apparently, Zapiro needs more Christ in his life.

Not to be deterred, he wasn’t done yet, because his next cartoon featured on the Daily Maverick also touched on the subject:

Facebook is full of wisecracks about religious gatherings involving meat being cooked over a fire this weekend (BYOB, of course), and it’s tough to blame those businesses that are still not allowed to operate, and struggling to stay afloat, for trying to find loopholes.

At the same time, we need to recognise that we’re still battling the coronavirus, with the worst still to come.

This weekend will go a long way to showing us how South Africans view the regulations, and the fact that the North Gauteng High Court found them to be “unconstitutional and invalid” could see some very reckless behaviour.

[source:dailymaverick]