South Africa plans to reopen its agriculture sector and allow some manufacturing and retail to resume as the country balances the need to restart economic output and curb the spread of the new coronavirus, trade minister Ebrahim Patel said yesterday.
South Africa has spent a month under restrictions requiring most of the population to stay at home apart from essential trips, leaving many businesses and individuals struggling without income in the recession-hit economy.
President Cyril Ramaphosa had said earlier last week that the government will allow a partial reopening of the economy on May 1, with some industries allowed to operate under a five-level risk system.
The country is expected to move onto the fourth level stage of the lockdown on May 1.
“In agriculture, forestry and fishing, that whole sector will begin to reopen, and that will include forestry as well as horticulture and the transport of livestock and animal auctions,” Patel said in a televised media briefing.
“In manufacturing, there will a further partial opening of the sectors. The sectors will not be open 100% during level four because we need to give firms an opportunity for phased return to work. As a broad baseline 20% of all manufacturing workers will begin to restart.”
Some of the extra manufacturing activities to be scaled to 50% production include automotive manufacturing, including components, production of cement and other construction material, as well as stationery production.
Open-cast mining will now be allowed at 100% capacity, a government document outlining permitted activities showed.
In retail, under level four, consumers will be allowed to buy food from restaurants for home delivery, stationery and educational books, tobacco products as well as personal computers and mobile telephones.
The sale of liquor will still not be permitted.
Patel said the planned changes will be discussed with industries.
“It has been a hard balancing act, every industry, every worker wants to return to work, but we need to strike a careful balance between getting to work as rapidly as possible and containing the spread of the virus and saving lives,” he said.
There will still be restrictions on travel and exercise, with curfews implemented between 8pm and 5am, cooperative governance minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said.
South Africa has recorded 4,220 confirmed cases including 79 deaths with 152,390 people tested for the virus.
Ramaphosa had on Tuesday announced a 500bn rand ($26.29bn) rescue package, equivalent to 10% of the GDP of the country, aimed at cushioning the blow from the new coronavirus on businesses and poor households.
Minister says face masks mandatory
South Africans will have to wear face masks from May 1 when coronavirus lockdown restrictions will begin to be eased, the government said yesterday.
“It is going to be mandatory to use a cloth mask as you step out of your home,” Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told a press conference in Pretoria.
“You will need to have your nose and mouth covered in public,” Dlamini-Zuma said, adding that people could use a scarf or T-shirt if they do not have a mask.
President Cyril Ramaphosa had announced on Thursday that coronavirus restrictions would be progressively eased from May 1 as the country comes out of a lockdown imposed on March 27 to combat the pandemic.
“If you are not an essential worker or do not work in the prioritised sectors continue to stay at home, except when you are buying essential goods or services or for emergency medical services,” Dlamini-Zuma said. “If you can, please work from home no matter the sector you are in,” she added.
South African Rugby national team captain Siya Kolisi (centre) and members of the Nelson Mandela Foundation packs protective face masks inside food parcels to be handed to child-headed families in Zandspruit informal settlement, north of Johannesburg.
