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By Zintle Mahlati 
17h ago
Johannesburg – The Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, has defended the government’s decision to persist with a night curfew.
Dlamini Zuma outlined the regulations that will govern level 1 of the nationwide shutdown on Friday. The new regulations go into effect on Monday.
On the question of why the government continued to implement a night curfew, which has now been moved between midnight and 4 a.m., Dlamini Zuma said there was still some concern about people gathering in the spaces for too long.
He used the examples of taverns and bars and said that as people consume alcohol and stay in an area for a long time, they often relax by following health protocols, such as social distancing and wearing masks.
The minister said international precedence had shown that in some countries opening too quickly saw an increase in cases, and caution was needed to allow a measured reopening.
On why alcohol sales were banned over the weekend, he said the government was being cautious in allowing alcohol sales because a rush to reopen could have devastating effects.
On the issue of international travel, which resumes on October 1, Dlamini Zuma said that all African countries whose citizens wanted to travel to South Africa could do so, but some countries outside the continent would be limited.
There is no published list of which countries will not be allowed, but Dlamini Zuma said the minister responsible for the portfolio will soon describe the restricted countries.
International travelers must present 72-hour certificates indicating that they are free of the coronavirus. If a traveler cannot present this certificate, they will have to undergo a quarantine protocol on their own.
The restrictions on certain countries would not be permanent but would depend on the cases reported in a region at a given time.
Only three international airports will be operational: OR Tambo, Cape Town and King Shaka in Durban.
Dlamini Zuma also noted her concern that some people relax adherence to wearing masks in public. He said he would stop using the words “post-Covid”, which gave a bad impression that the virus was over.
He warned that the virus does not move, but is moved by people.
Political Bureau
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