Question NW1168 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
25 June 2021 - NW1168
Brink, Mr C to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
Whether, in light of the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the different levels of lockdown in the Republic, the Government has ever conducted and/or outsourced a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of every lockdown level in order to determine whether the costs of the various lockdown levels outweighed the benefits or not, where such costs and benefits are defined in terms of years of life lost and gained, respectively; if not, why not; if so, what are the further relevant details of the analysis?
Reply:
No, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) did not conduct a cost-benefit analysis relating to these aspects as the underlying economic and medical considerations that will inform such an analysis fall within the purview and expertise of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, the National Treasury and the Department of Health. As such, these deaprtments are best placed to respond to the question.