South Africa’s Lockdown Restrictions to be Eased for Restaurants, Cinemas, Hairdressers

South Africa is poised to enter a new phase of normality as President Ramaphosa tonight announced the easing of restrictions on certain business industries in the country. Following discussions with industry leaders, scientists and in consultation with Premiers, the South African Cabinet has decided to ease restrictions on the following economic activities, said the President.

Restrictions will be eased in South Africa for the following activities:

• Restaurants for ‘sit-down’ meals
• Accredited and licensed accommodation, with the exception of home sharing
  accommodation like AirBnB.
• Conferences and meetings for business purposes and in line with restrictions on public gatherings.
• Cinemas and theatres, to be aligned to limitations on the gathering of people.
• Casinos.
• Personal care services, including hairdressers and beauty services
• Non-contact sports such as golf, tennis, cricket and others. Contact sports will be allowed only for training and modified activities with restricted use of facilities.

“In each instance, specific and stringent safety requirements have been agreed on and will need to be put in place before a business can re-open, and protocols will need to be strictly adhered to for businesses to remain open,” said President Ramaphosa.

Announcements will be made soon on details for these measures, and the dates that these activities will finally be permitted again.

Ramaphosa said these industries employed over 500,000 people before the lockdown. “We have had to think about these people and those who depend on them for their
livelihoods.”

Safety concerns have also been taken into consideration, he said. “Through the easing of the lockdown we are continuing to balance our overriding objective of saving lives and preserving livelihoods.”

As this is a global pandemic with similar challenges around the world, South Africa is working closely with other nations and international agencies in responding to the coronavirus, said President Ramaphosa.

Read President Ramaphosa’s full speech here (there was no mention about cigarettes!).