Not only banks need sanitisers

It’s not ideal to be standing in a queue when there is very little social distancing. Worse still, when there’s no sanitiser at the end of those queues.

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and other members of her National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) have come under fire for some of the bizarre regulations in the adjusted Level 3 lockdown, but a welcome addition is that all banks need to ensure their automated teller machines (ATMs) are equipped with
hand sanitisers and social distancing is adhered to.

It’s estimated that more than 30,000 ATMs need to be equipped to comply with the new restrictions. Failure to comply with the new laws will result in fines.

These ATMs are seen as potential Covid-19 super-spreaders, so it’s about time something was done about it.

Next, we need to look at post offices and any queues where South African Social Security (Sassa) grants are paid out.

Scenes of people standing in lengthy queues for grants, not maintaining social distancing and not wearing masks is not on. The same protocols put in place at banks need to be policed at these centres.

We realise this is a costly and time-consuming exercise for banks.

But it’s important to enforce strict measures if we are to curb the spread of the virus.

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