Cabinet plans to end State of Disaster by 5 April, says Dlamini-Zuma

A week after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has announced that the new regulations to replace the State of Disaster will be gazetted for public comment on Tuesday.

Briefing the country on the progress of the lifting of the National State of Disaster on Tuesday, Dlamini-Zuma said Cabinet met on Monday evening and decided on moving towards ending the State of Disaster.

“But we can’t do that in an abrupt manner. We’re going to publish some regulations that should remain, because Section 27 of the Disaster Management Act provides for post-disaster management and rehabilitation that should remain for not more than 30 days. They will be published and public will be given 48 hours to comment and a decision will be made and announced by the President.”

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

The new regulations will be gazetted on Tuesday and should all go according to plan, the final decision will be announced before 5 April 2022, said Dlamini-Zuma.

The new regulations will address:

• Masks for indoor gatherings, excluding children under 6 years old
• Social distancing in gatherings (1 metre) except for schools
• The R350 grant, which Dlamini-Zuma said would continue but be removed from State of Disaster regulations
• Current restrictions on gatherings
• Vaccinated travellers will still be allowed in the country, as well as those with a negative Covid-19 test

On 15 March, Dlamini-Zuma extended the National State of Disaster to 15 April, saying the government was working on finalising new health regulations.

While the public had been given until 16 April to comment on the proposed health regulations, the government has now announced this will happen way before that.

The country has been on adjusted level 1 lockdown since October, with the latest changes implemented on 22 March.

President Cyril Ramaphosa first declared the National State of Disaster in March 2020.