We often measure the impact and severity of public sector corruption in SA in rands and cents lost, or in the number of services which could have been delivered had the money not been stolen. We consider the number of schools that could have been built, the hospitals that might have been better staffed, or the roads that would have been better maintained had the funds not been diverted from their intended purpose.
But sometimes we fail to measure the true opportunity cost of corruption. The crises which could have been averted and the lives that might have been saved were some government officials capable of exercising even an ounce of selflessness and keeping their hands out of the till.
As SA starts to experience a perilous plunge in daily Covid-19 vaccination rates - despite vaccine registration now being open to every adult residing in the country - it is becoming clear that the damage wrought by the Digital Vibes corruption scandal is actually much worse than what can be measured in hard currency.
There can be no doubt that the absence of compelling and effective government communication about the science behind the Covid-19 vaccination drive has enabled the rapid spread of vaccine disinformation to fill the void. And the cost to SA will be a great deal more than a mere R15m.
Our country has been socially and economically devastated by the Covid pandemic. We have enough doses to achieve herd immunity so that we can kick-start our economy and begin to turn this crisis around, yet only 15% of SA's population has been fully vaccinated. Instead, we are gripped by vaccine hesitancy because the misinformation peddled by anti-vaxxers on the internet is more convincing than public health messaging produced by the department of health.
We know that our public health communication has been shoddy because two-thirds of the budget for essential Covid-19 messaging was spent on a luxury holiday in Turkey and a home renovation for Tahera Mather, and a gaudy nail salon in Pietermatizburg for the son of former health minister Zweli Mkhize, among others.
After a good run of about 200,000 daily weekday vaccinations between August and September this year - including a peak in late August when we reached over 283,000 jabs administered in a single day - the vaccination rate has already begun a downward trend, with the most successful vaccination day this week attracting only 188,000 people.
The glaring absence of high quality, persuasive and evidence-based strategic communication from the government has left the Covid information space wide open for detractors to occupy
Much of this can be attributed to the government falling behind and losing badly in the communications war with the anti-vaccine lobby.
The glaring absence of high quality, persuasive and evidence-based strategic communication from the government has left the Covid information space wide open for detractors to occupy. Disinformation merchants have been free to peddle everything from conspiracy theories about mRNA vaccines to dangerous propaganda about the efficacy of animal de-wormers as a Covid prophylactic.
Moreover, in the age of rapidly moving information, the anti-vaccine lobby was given a seven month head start during which the government delivered the most lacklustre of public health campaigns about its vaccination drive. By the time the state had procured a sufficient supply of jabs, the damage had already been done.
The bitter political contestation ahead of the upcoming local government elections hasn't helped as political parties jostle to find a policy angle which will energise their electoral base. From the EFF's refusal to limit the size of its campaign rallies, despite the risks of a superspreader event, to the DA, which started the year making loud and repeated demands for the urgent procurement of vaccines by the government, but goes into the election preaching "freedom of choice" as a coded message of support to the anti-vaccine lobby.
The waters have been significantly muddied by political leaders' refusal to ground their Covid-19 messaging in science rather than expediency.
So where does this leave us?
President Cyril Ramaphosa's goal of having 70% of the adult population vaccinated by the middle of December is ambitious, but highly unlikely to succeed given the odds currently stacked against it. And while the presidency's new "Vooma Vaccination Weekend" drive is evidence that Ramaphosa's government finally appreciates the consequences of failing to communicate the importance of its vaccination drive effectively, it is not nearly enough to achieve the fundamental shift in numbers needed to pull us out of this crisis.
The time has come to tap into the deep well of quality and expertise in the South African advertising and communications space to turn the situation around. There can be no shortage of industry professionals willing to put shoulders to the wheel in the public interest, if only they can overcome gatekeeping by kleptocrats eager to get their hands on public money.
In a world in which technology has created a communications superhighway for expertly dressed false news stories and conspiracy theories, the misinformation machine is far outpacing scientists, medical professionals and public health officials' ability to share accurate information about the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines and the health and economic benefits of achieving population immunity and enabling countries to return to some semblance of normal life.
SA now urgently needs a compelling, evidence-based and persuasive communications strategy to boost vaccination rates, salvage what remains of the economy and save tens of thousands of lives.
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