Winde pushes for end of state of disaster as Ramaphosa calls meeting on Covid regulations 

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde says he will reiterate his call for the national state of disaster to be lifted immediately, during the meeting of the President’s Coordinating Council (PCC).

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday is meeting with his Cabinet ministers, South Africa’s nine premiers and mayors of metropolitan municipalities to discuss the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

State of disaster

The meeting comes amid growing calls from business, civil society and opposition parties for government to scrap the state of disaster that was implemented almost two years ago at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

ALSO READ: National State of Disaster extended by another month

Various organisations, including the Democratic Alliance (DA) and AfriForum, are taking government to court after it extended the national state of disaster again, until 15 April 2022.

They argue the country is no longer in a state of disaster, and that the lockdown restrictions are unlawful and irrational given the steady decline in SA’s Covid infections and hospital admissions in recent weeks.

However, government maintains that it cannot lift the state of disaster until it finalises other measures under the National Health Act to manage the pandemic outside of the Disaster Management Act.

READ MORE: proposed draft Covid-19 regulations set to replace State of Disaster

Unemployment

Winde said Monday’s meeting of the PCC would be an opportunity for him to urge Ramaphosa not to extend the state of disaster, because government had not done their job in time to end the lockdown as it had previously committed.

The premier said South Africans, especially those who are unemployed, should not have to wait until 15 April to find out whether the national state of disaster would be extended again by another month.

“It is concerning to me that despite public utterances that the priority of the national government is to create jobs, its actions seem to show otherwise.

“It’s time to bridge this gap and show the courage needed to get our economy growing again,” Winde said in a statement.

He said according to an industry poll conducted by the provincial Department of Economic Development and Tourism, a significant number of businesses in the Western Cape had been impacted by Covid-19 lockdowns and related restrictions.

“The president is also wrong if he thinks that the status quo is not hurting the economy, and these are merely health regulations. The events industry, in particular, continues to be impacted by a non-sensical restriction on the size of the gathering. Many countries have lifted these restrictions some time ago.

“This is especially problematic if you consider the cultural and creative Industries’ direct contribution to South African gross domestic product and the major decline it has experienced. Indeed, it has declined from R84.3 billion in 2019 to R42.2 billion in 2020 – around 50%.”

Another ‘family meeting’ coming soon?

Meanwhile, responding to oral questions in Parliament last week, Ramaphosa alluded to new health regulations that were set to replace the current lockdown regulations.

The president said public consultations on the regulations with various leaders were underway and he would address the country soon in the “coming days”.

“We have met with traditional leaders; we have met with various other leaders, as well as religious leaders and we are talking precisely about this and I can assure you again, we are going to lift the [National] State of Disaster and we are going to put in place health regulations – regulations that will enable everyone to feel safe but at the same time, we want to boost vaccination,” Ramaphosa said.

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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