Questions raised over SA’s economic recovery after State of Disaster discontinued

While it was an important step for President Cyril Ramaphosa to end the national State of Disaster, it does not answer the questions about South Africa’s economic recovery, experts say.

Political economy analyst Daniel Silke said although some degree of normalcy would be welcomed, “the growth or improvement of the economy will only come about through better economic policies and more efficient administration” of those policies.

“So this certainly allows our economy to move forward, but the hard work still needs to be done on our economy in terms of both the performance of government and the policy framework that the government needs to address urgently.”

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However, while the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa) believed the lifting of the PCR test for fully vaccinated inbound travellers was a step in the right direction, there was a small nuance which had a lingering impact on family travel.

Fedhasa national chair Rosemary Anderson said when other countries red listed SA in 2021, it made it very difficult and, in some cases, impossible to travel to SA, which had caused untold damage to the hospitality sector.

“The issue [is] that many countries do not offer vaccinations to children between five and 12 years, and neither does SA,” she said.

“So, unless you live in a major centre, a family wanting to travel to SA has to leave home a day early and incur the additional cost of a night in a hotel and then bear the additional worry that their travel plans will be derailed entirely if their child tests positive.

“This doesn’t make sense when SA’s regulations state that if you are Covid-19 positive, yet asymptomatic, there is no need to self-isolate.”

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Meanwhile, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said the end of the State of Disaster only meant the government would no longer regulate the pandemic through the minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, but through the health minister, in terms of the National Health Act.

“Its attempt to amend the National Health Act with new regulations means the government can continue to impose limiting economic restrictions,” said FF+ spokesperson Philip van Staden.

“The proposed regulations are clearly not well thought out and the government has apparently learnt no lessons from the previous restrictions.”