Patel deserves all the flak for his blinkered view of e-commerce

Whatever flak trade and industry minister Ibrahim Patel got over his failure to allow unrestricted e-commerce is not nearly enough. While some South Africans may have largely overlooked his earlier ill-advised ban on hot foods, attributing this to the fluid and alarming situation that existed then, his continued restriction of e-commerce is unforgivable.

The whole response to the Covid-19 pandemic hinges on speed, and a fine balance between the health of people and that of the economy. This has required close co-operation between government and experts in the health sector, particularly in the immunology and epidemiology streams. The president and his minister of health seemed to operate with close guidance from experts in these fields.

It remains important, though, to learn quickly from countries such as China, South Korea, and Singapore which are further ahead of us in dealing with the pandemic.

As soon as the spread of the virus is relatively contained, or the curve flattened, best practice seems to suggest that the next step must be to reintroduce wider economic activity gradually. This stage still requires the use of safety protocols such as social distancing, protective apparatus such as masks, deep cleaning, and other recommended measures.

Considering that e-commerce does not only satisfy these requirements but promotes them, it is unacceptable that Patel has failed to allow unrestricted trade online. While the world has rapidly switched to e-commerce as a way to mitigate the devastation visited by Covid-19 upon economies worldwide, Patel has decided to be a stumbling block to our economy. The man has effectively become the minister of no trade.

While I am no proponent of liquor, considering the destruction this substance brings upon society, the ban on alcohol to the extent of banning the export of wine as was done in level 5 is unnecessary. This is especially true when alcohol is legal and the countries we export to have not banned it during this time. The rationale should be that, as long as a product is legal and it will allow businesses to continue operating safely, it should be allowed. The minister’s focus, therefore, seems to be somewhere else, and not on facilitating trade as his portfolio requires.

Consider Patel’s nonsensical reason for his actions — that allowing e-commerce to operate unrestricted would be unfair in the face of other businesses being under lockdown. This shows that the minister’s focus is not on facilitating trade but on satisfying his ill-fated idea of fairness, during a time of disaster, no less.

You could swear that the man is unaware of the president’s aspirations to transform our economy to a new economy resting on the vast capabilities of e-commerce.

It is unclear whether it is the buzz of power, the refusal to abandon stale ideas, or both that drives Patel’s actions. Patel’s form of fairness requires that if some are without, then all must be without. Instead of accelerating the use of e-commerce by businesses that do not have access to e-commerce, he would rather restrict those businesses that do have access.

This approach is detrimental to our economy. Patel would rather we all remain poor than for some of us to take up space in the rapidly expanding global e-commerce space. He refuses to see that taking up e-commerce quickly will later translate to better access and better services for all South Africans.

Our government’s propensity to be a stumbling block towards development is uncanny. It does not matter whether we are talking about renewable energy, the rollout of spectrum required by data services, or the full use of e-commerce, the attitude seems consistently set against progress. This is the cost of placing undeserving politicians in portfolios for which they are unsuited. The portfolio Patel occupies requires an active and passionate proponent of trade. It requires one who is unashamed to persuade all South Africans to embrace free trade and e-commerce as the way to go.

There will possibly never be a better opportunity for our economy to transform towards e-commerce. The great advantage at this time is that the momentum of the pandemic can be harnessed to make the transition speedy. Government does not have to do much to promote e-commerce, except to allow full e-commerce in the absence of normal trade.

The lessons that retailers and other e-commerce businesses collect at this time will form a foundation on which the entire “new economy” can be built.