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- Cogta Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma cannot give certainty about how long the regulations will last.
- She was answering questions during a virtual briefing after the announcement that the adjusted Level 3 lock remains in place.
- Dlamini-Zuma says the regulations are there to protect and save lives.
The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, says it is difficult to give certainty about how long the blocking regulations of Covid-19 will last.
“These regulations are there because of what is happening with the infections. The infection is high, the president did say that some of these regulations will be revised when we have passed the peak and the numbers have dropped enough to allow us to remove these regulations.
“If we said we give certainty and give a date that these regulations will not apply, what if infections have not decreased enough to allow that,” he said during a question and answer session after a virtual briefing on Tuesday.
Dlamini-Zuma was responding to a question about how long the regulations will last.
The minister led a virtual media briefing on Covid-19 restrictions, regulations and enforcement following a speech by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday night to the effect that the adjusted Level 3 lockdown will remain in place.
The country has reported a higher number of new cases and deaths during the second wave.
Ramaphosa, in his Monday night speech, noted that, since New Year’s Day, South Africa has recorded “nearly 190,000 new Covid-19 infections and more than 4,600 Covid-19 deaths so far this year” .
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Dlamini-Zuma reiterated that there are regulations to protect and save lives.
“So I think that as long as we understand that these regulations are there to protect lives, they are not arbitrary, they are there because the infection in South Africa is very high. We are receiving figures of more than 20,000 per day.”
He gave an example that when the country went to Level 1 of the lockdown, there were some days when there were less than 1000 cases per day, but now we are faced with some days when the country has seen more than 20,000 new cases . cases per day.
As a result of this, it was very difficult to be certain about something they couldn’t control, Dlamini-Zuma said.
He said the law only allows the National State of Disaster to be extended monthly.
“We don’t know. It will depend on what the infection is doing, the state of our hospitals, the number of people who die and all those things, so it is not possible to give certainty and say on this or that day the regulations will disappear “, he concluded.
