As South Africans look forward to the easing of some of the strictest, most controversial, and most costly lockdown restrictions tomorrow – including bans on the sale of cigarettes and liquor – attention turns to what President Cyril Ramaphosa described last night as an ‘urgent economic recovery programme’.

Ramaphosa’s announcements last night follow a five-month lockdown that has devastated the economy, costing the fiscus billions, and costing millions their jobs. Thousands of businesses have been forced to close.

The president said he had convened a meeting of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) – combining government, labour, business and community leaders – and work was proceeding ‘on an urgent economic recovery programme that places the protection and creation of employment at its centre’.

Announcements ‘on the outcome of this work’ would be made in the ‘next few weeks’.

The objective was ‘not only to return South Africa to where it was before, but to transform our country to a more equal, more just and more dynamic economy’.

The IRR’s deputy head of policy research, Hermann Pretorius, welcomed the move to a level 2 lockdown, but warned that this would not be enough to save lives and livelihoods from the depredations of government policy over the past decade, which had seen the country and its people lose jobs, income, opportunities, and hope.

He said the IRR would be releasing a comprehensive Growth and Recovery Strategy to #GetSAWorking on Tuesday.

In his televised address to announced the easing of the lockdown to level 2, President Ramaphosa said confirmed cases had dropped dropped from a peak of over 12 000 a day to an average over the past week of around 5 000 a day.

‘The virus appears to have peaked in several provinces, including the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and possibly in KwaZulu-Natal.’ Fewer people were requiring admission in hospitals and the demand for coronavirus tests had dropped.

The number of patients in hospital had dropped from 10 000 at the beginning of the month to around 4 000.

While urging South Africans to ‘not let our guard down’, he said the government had decided on the guidance of health experts to place the whole country on alert level 2 from midnight tomorrow, with ‘necessary and appropriate stringent health protocols and safety precautions in place’.

Under level 2  

  • All restrictions on inter-provincial travel will be lifted;
  • Accommodation, hospitality venues and tours will be permitted according to approved protocols to ensure social distancing;
  • Restaurants, bars and taverns will be permitted to operate according to approved protocols as to times of operation and numbers of people;
  • Restrictions on the sale of tobacco will be lifted;
  • The suspension of the sale of alcohol will be lifted subject to certain restrictions. (Alcohol will be permitted for on-site consumption in licensed establishments only up until 10pm. Liquor outlets will be allowed to sell alcohol for off-site consumption from Monday to Thursday during the hours of 9am to 5pm only.); and
  • Restrictions on family and social visits will also be lifted, although everyone is urged to exercise extreme caution and undertake such visits only if necessary.

Some restrictions remain unchanged.

  • Current restrictions on international travel will remain in place;
  • No gatherings of more than 50 people will be permitted. Among others, this includes funerals and religious events;
  • Spectators will not be permitted at sporting events; and
  • The curfew will remain in place between the hours of 10pm and 4am.

The national state of disaster will be extended to 15 September ‘in order to keep the remaining restrictions in place and to maintain some of the essential elements of our health response’.

Ramaphosa touched briefly on the Covid-related corruption that has dominated the headlines in recent weeks, saying: ‘We have witnessed the actions of some individuals who have sought to profit through corrupt means from this pandemic.’

He added: ‘We have taken decisive action to stop this and bring those responsible to book, and we will regularly update the country on the progress we are making.’

Positive cases grew in South Africa yesterday by 6 275 to a cumulative total of 579 140 (with 461 734 recoveries). Deaths rose by 286 to 11 556.

The highest tally of cases is in Gauteng (197 531), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (103 744), the Western Cape (101 579) and the Eastern Cape (83 372).

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