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Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has announced a raft of changes to lockdown regulations that will, among other things, allow IT technicians, plumbers and electricians to work, and mines will be allowed to operate again, but at 50% capacity.
During a media briefing with members of the National Command Council that is dealing with the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, Dlamini-Zuma said that, over the course of the current lockdown, changes will be relaxed in stages to avoid chaos.
“Lockdown will be lifted in an incremental and orderly manner. Every week, we will announce which sectors can open,” she said.
“When we do stop the lockdown, we cannot let everything open back up abruptly. We have to phase it in so that there is an orderly move towards normality.”
South Africa’s confirmed cases of infection were 2 506 as of Thursday and the death toll has increased to 34.
So far, 90 515 tests have been conducted.
The national lockdown was initially supposed to end at midnight on Thursday, but President Cyril Ramaphosa last week announced that it would be extended to the end of this month.
Dlamini-Zuma explained that only a few rules were going to change, but emphasised that social distancing was still vital.
Regarding the sale of alcohol, the minister said that the ban still applied and would not be lifted until after the lockdown.
Dlamini-Zuma stuck to the script even after the Gauteng Liquor Forum threatened to take Ramaphosa to court to force him to allow the distribution and sale of alcohol during the lockdown.
Read: Wait until Friday, says Ramaphosa about demands to lift alcohol ban
• Restrictions on IT workers will be relaxed;
• Cooked food cannot be sold by restaurants yet, even as takeaways;
• Call centres used by retailers will be allowed to open;
• People may stay in hotels if attending funerals and weddings;
• Plumbers and electricians will be allowed to operate;
• There will be a relaxing of restrictions at ports;
• Parents who are co-parenting will be allowed to move their children to the other parent’s home if they produce a certificate proving they are the child’s parents;
• Imported goods at sea do not require sanitation any more “because the virus cannot survive at sea”;
• Informal fishermen who sell their fish in rural communities will be able to get back to work;
• Officials from the Independent Electoral Commission will be able to move around;
• Mines will be allowed to operate at 50% of capacity; and
• Warehouses providing essential services will be allowed to operate.
Dlamini-Zuma said that regulations surrounding gatherings at funerals remained the same – only 50 people are allowed to attend.
She said that opening up some sectors was part of the country’s preparation to end the lockdown, but she added that some of the regulations would continue after the lockdown: “We don’t know if the lockdown will end this month. Some conditions will remain in place for a very long time.”
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