Country’s move to lockdown Level 3, good news for local hospitality industry

Randburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry/Fourways Chamber of Commerce and Industry has described the government’s decision to ease lockdown restrictions as a good move towards economic recovery.

This was after the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) led by President Cyril Ramaphosa recently took a decision to move the country from lockdown Level 4 to lockdown Level 3.

Ramaphosa said the decision was informed by a decline in the number of new infections in different provinces.

The president of the local business network, Richard Ntjana said the latest decision by the NCCC would help prevent job cuts especially in the hospitality industry. “It is a good move indeed and we are really excited as a business and we are looking forward to doing more business, the mostly affected people with the recent hard restrictions were economic participants like ordinary workers and small businesses,” he said.

“The hospitality industry has suffered greatly because of these Level 4 restrictions in the past 28 days.

“Many people working in the alcohol industry had lost their jobs and they are now part of millions who were unemployed before.”

Ntjana added that with the economy already under distress and the high rate of unemployment, mainly youth, the effects would be felt in the coming weeks, months and years.

“The hard lockdown restrictions in Level 4 made things worse. We don’t need to close our economy but to encourage and educate people about the importance of practising social distancing and avoid crowded areas.”