Political parties express their views on level 2 lockdown

On Saturday, August 15, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the national lockdown would move to level 2 as of Monday midnight and proceeded to outline the various regulations. Most of the regulations related to the relaxation of level 3 lockdown. The president announced that it still remains mandatory to wear a face mask in public and when using public transport.

The Covid-19 alert level 2 rules were gazetted by Minister of Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. A night curfew remains in place between 10pm and 4am, except where a person has been granted a permit, or the person is attending to a security or medical emergency.

The hospitality industry, restaurants, bars and taverns are now allowed to sell alcohol, but for on-site consumption only, until the curfew time of 10pm. Licensed bottle stores are restricted to selling alcohol from Monday to Thursday between 9am and 5pm for off-site consumption.

Massive queues could be seen outside several bottle stores on Tuesday (August 18).

Restrictions on the sale of tobacco have been lifted after five months, much to the relief of Ladysmith smokers who have been forking out hundreds of rands for illicit cigarettes. A pack of Peter Stuyvesant cost a whopping R120 on the black market, compared to the legal price of R40.

A Gazette reporter conducted interviews with different political parties with regards to the country moving down to level 2 lockdown.

“The IFP welcomes with caution the Cabinet’s decision to move the country into lockdown alert level 2, noting that the threat of this virus is not over and the risk remains. Therefore all efforts must be taken to avoid complacency,” said IFP chairperson Mbuzeleni Mkhize.

DA councillor Sharon Buys stressed that the party did not think it was necessary to continue with the lockdown at all. “This is the DA’s national stance on the Covid-19 lockdown,” she explained. ” We believe the president could have ended the lockdown completely and allowed people to just observe social distancing, proper hygiene and wearing of masks,” she stressed.

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“As the National People’s Ambassadors (NPA), we do not think there is still a need for the national lockdown. The government allows people to stand in long queues for social relief grants, all shops have now opened up, and the liquor and cigarette ban has been lifted. How does government expect people to practice social distancing if they are drunk? Will people still be able to wear their face masks when they are drunk? Now we will see the surge of this pandemic. The government should just end this lockdown once and for all in order to get the country’s economy in place,” said Nathi Mthethwa.

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