Today marks the three-week mark of the lockdown. Another two weeks to go!
A few rules have been amended for the second phase of the nationwide lockdown, announced co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Alcohol and cigarettes are still banned and the rule of no alcohol is allowed to be transported has been added.
“Expect almost every week new conditions will be coming,” the minister said. Even though the minister was very vague on the relaxations to come, she did say: “schools might be opening” and “industries may have to come slowly on stream” as part of an “orderly way of easing the lockdown.”
Here are some of the new rules:
Supermarkets, fast food and restaurants
One of the new amendments is that supermarkets, fast food and restaurants cannot sell cooked food nor are the restaurants and fast food chains allowed to reopen. We shall have to wait for that Colonel Burger from KFC!
The minister of trade and industry Ebrahim Patel was unequivocal: “restaurants and takeaways remain closed and supermarkets open to sell essential goods must close their hot-food sections.”
That position is under constant review, Patel said: “but as things stand right now it is very clear what the position is.”
Emergency repair work
As an emergency worker, you will be able to get you car fixed and if there is a plumbing or electrical issue at your house, a plumber or electrician may be called out.
Specifically included in the list of artisans allowed to do emergency repair work:
- locksmiths
- glaziers
- roof repairers
- plumbers
- electricians
Hardware and car parts
“Components and supplies needed by tradespeople for emergency repairs at homes.”
“Stores selling hardware products and vehicle components must maintain a register of persons buying essential goods… and must keep a record of a signed declaration” from the buyer that the goods are essential, the new regulations read.
Neighbourhood watch
There is still no plan to allow any community/neighbourhood watch to resume their previous posts of patrolling their neighbourhoods. Minister Beki Cele reiterated.
Even though several organisations petitioned for such changes, the rule still remains that only formal security guards are allowed to keep on working.
Minister Cele said that there are two problems with allowing neighbourhood watch: there is no structure to hold them accountable for their actions and unlike police and soldiers they are not “vetted and known”.
Funerals
This rule remains the same.
“Funerals are still strictly for 50 people, that has not changed,” Minister Dlamini-Zuma said.
Children may be able to move between parents with a birth certificate
Currently, divorced parents with shared custody need to show a court-approved co-parenting plan in order for children to move between them – after even such movement was initially banned entirely.
Now, Dlamini-Zuma implied, moving children between parents will be possible as long as the parents can produce at least a birth certificate to prove the connection with their children.
More call centres may open
Credit cards are covered by insurance policies – which need to be activated, more call centres will be allowed to open, including those for retailers.
Other industries
“The rule that goods imported from high-risk SARS-CoV-2 countries must be sanitised in port is being revoked,” Dlamini-Zuma said, “based on evidence that the virus does not survive sea journeys.”
Some mines will be allowed to reopen, under strict conditions including private transport for mineworkers.
