INSIGHT | Collaboration key in managing risk strategy for Covid-19

The declaration of the state of disaster as per the Disaster Management Act of 2003 has afforded South Africans from all walks of life time to reflect on the role of government in handling the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic.

As ordinary South Africans, economists, scientist, business and various stakeholders, the reflections we make during this lockdown knowingly or not relate to some critical aspects of risk governance.

Risk governance pertains to various approaches in which many stakeholders handle  risk in the midst of uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. In a broader context, risk governance is understood as a collective decision-making process whose many purposes are to identify, access, manage, communicate, monitor and evaluate in a process that involves all stakeholders.

The Covid-19 pandemic is teaching us daily as a nation that designing and implementing interventions to mitigate the effects of this disease are not straightforward.

The great lesson is that no single actor can address the current challenges faced by the nation, hence there is an urgent need for wider stakeholder  inclusivity.

Covid-19 pandemic risk regulation shows us that there are negative risk trade-offs and civil society wants to be shown how intervention choices are made instead of being given their marching orders. In fact, stakeholders at all levels want total involvement in the risk governance process.

The current debate about the access to scientific information that determines lockdown levels and other aspects relating to data is in order because the role of government as a regulator is to be a guardian of transparent and detailed evidence-based decision-making. It is only through  evidence-based decision-making that a communication gap between business, scientist, health practitioners, layman and all affected stakeholders can be bridged.

The best risk governance practice is that the process of Covid-19 risk communication and management should not be monopolised by government, hence the statement that the government is withholding some information from the public because it does not want to instil fear is unfortunate and needs to be rejected with the contempt it deserves.

In rejecting the statement of withholding information from the public, full appreciation of society risks and government risks that may be caused by failure in mitigating the effects of the pandemic and the pressure of legitimacy risk of government have been considered.

In light of the above, government needs to avoid being colonised by the Covid-19 pandemic risk because there is evidence across countries that risk colonisation gives rise to rigid regulatory state where decisions are made under shadow administrative procedures and justified by ministers.

The letter written by the two advocates to President Cyril Ramaphosa seeking clarity on matters related to the National Coronavirus Command Council is in order, from the perspective of risk governance. Studies conducted in some countries have acknowledged that in times of disaster the state becomes an “administrative” state where the executive acts as regulator, administrator and final arbiter to the extent of confusing the powers designed to protect citizens against inconsistent decision-making.

Another consequence is that accountability, transparency and the rule of law may suffer from decision makers that are aloof from those affected by the decisions.

In the spirit of good risk governance, our government should consider maximising collaboration with all interested parties.

Trust and confidence in Covid-19 pandemic risk governance action is directly correlated to public expectations and the government should avoid a situation where there are higher expectations and weaker stakeholder confidence.

The solution is to move from Covid-19 pandemic risk management approaches to strategies  that are rooted on the principles of effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, accountability, sustainability, strategic focus, equity, respect, fairness and ethics.

Mzobanzi Sineke is a PhD candidate at University of KwaZulu-Natal. He acknowledges the views of the International Risk Governance Council

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