Somehow we all knew that opening for live events after more than 18 months would come with behavioural risks and their mitigations. But that didn’t mean events promoters and their patrons should be casual and forget that we still need to control the pandemic. Though COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalisations have declined, it is everyone’s responsibility to keep them down, revellers included. Collective behaviour of some patrons at a recent live event headlined by South African artist, Makhadzi was worrying and should never happen again.
A number of concertgoers ignored basic health ministry’s line of defence to social distance and wearing of masks. The breach even caught the eye of the First Citizen. When addressing Selebi-Phikwe residents, President Mokgweetsi Masisi bemoaned: “We all saw what happened when a certain female artist pulled a crowd of people recently. People were screaming and not wearing masks. Brace yourself, there will be a change in our COVID- 19 statistics in the next three weeks.” He was directing his criticism towards the organisers of the concert where thousands of people gathered in clear violation of the COVID-19 protocols. Masisi said they cannot allow people who observed health protocols to be affected by unruly revellers. He was partly right to insinuate that the mass gathering at the Molapo Piazza would likely amplify the transmission of the virus.
