Restaurant industry hangs on Ramaphosa’s decision

Grace Harding, head of the Restaurant Collective, the voice of the sit-down restaurant industry, makes some telling points in her opinion piece on our pages today.

These restaurants were barely clawing their way back to life when the latest lockdown happened.

And, if President Cyril Ramaphosa does not roll back the restrictions on 11 July, says Harding, “the impact will shatter the sector.

“There will be no bouncing back from this and thousands more will remain unemployed and desperate.”

Sit-down restaurants are lumped together with taverns, bars, shebeens and night clubs – but they operate in a different, more controlled, and safer way, argues Harding. Sit-down restaurants are environments where people who know one another come to sit down and enjoy meals.

There is minimal movement among tables and social distancing is easy to enforce. Takeaway is not an option either. A sit-down restaurant’s expenses far outstrip those of any other form of eatery and “cannot just be switched off when limited trade is enforced”, adds Harding.

The futures of a million people in the sector hang on Ramaphosa’s 11 July decision… so, this requires some serious thought on the part of government.

We understand the importance of saving lives – but livelihoods are just as important.