It’s time that South Africa scrapped all COVID-19 restrictions on mask-wearing and gatherings, said Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, during a digital press conference yesterday afternoon (June 7).
“In practice, this means that we need to allow congregations, convention centres, stadiums, and other economic hubs to operate at full capacity once again while we continue to safely navigate life. By doing away with these restrictions, we will enable businesses to operate at full capacity and grow,” he said.
Winde has urgently called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to heed his repeated calls to address this.
“Last month, I sent a letter to President Ramaphosa calling for an urgent President’s Coordinating Council (PCC) so that we can table our latest data in support of the complete removal of the remaining COVID-19 restrictions. No meeting has since been called and my office once again sent a reminder to the Presidency yesterday. We have still not received a response to the substance of this request,” he said.
Winde noted that his government made this call to the President because the Western Cape province could now safely and fully reopen the economy. “This is because there has been a continued decoupling between COVID-19 infections, hospitalisations and deaths.”
Winde highlighted the following regarding the province’s healthcare capacity:
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The number of daily new cases has decreased since last week to 458 new diagnoses per day.
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The PCR proportion of positive tests has decreased to approximately 24%.
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New admissions have decreased to 45 admissions per day and are declining. There is clear data supporting the decoupling of infections and hospitalisations.
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Absolute numbers of deaths have decreased and remain relatively low at, on average, three deaths per day. This points to the decoupling of infections and deaths.
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The reproduction number, or ‘R’ number, continues to decline and is currently at approximately 0.55 for the province overall.
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We are exiting a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, and the Provincial Department of Health and Wellness is continuing to monitor this.
“We, as a Provincial Government, are fighting for our residents’ businesses and jobs. The recent Quarterly Labour Force Survey has demonstrated that our country’s unemployment rate has reached a crisis level and needs to be addressed with the same urgency that we showed when confronting COVID-19,” emphasised Winde.
The Premier further pointed out that, while the province was starting to see a decline in vaccination uptake since April 2022, the Western Cape had achieved a milestone of administering full primary vaccinations to 70% of those 60 years and older.
“Vaccines remain our best form of protection against COVID-19 and will allow us safely to do away with restrictions so that we can fully reopen our economy and claw back jobs,” said Winde.
Venue capping ‘unviable’
The business travel and events sector continues to highlight the fact that the ongoing 50% cap on venue capacity is hampering growth for the sector, and for the economy as a whole.
Glenton de Kock, CEO of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI) was quoted by business news daily, Fin24, as saying that, while the 50% cap allowed for business events and exhibitions such as Meetings Africa, WTM Africa, and Africa’s Travel Indaba 2022 to take place, the restriction limited participation.
"This means the cost remains the same as it would for a full-capacity event, but the organiser may only use half of the venue space. Also, attendees are required to produce proof of vaccination, which makes the events industry the only mandated vaccinated economic sector by the South African government," he said.
This was also highlighted during a panel discussion – mediated by Projeni Pather, Chair of the Association of African Exhibition Organisers – at the recent Road to Recovery webinar held by the SA Events Council.
One of the key take-outs from this discussion was that it is still not economically viable to run at even 50% capacity for some types of events.
“When audience capacities include support staff like catering, security, front-of-house and performers, it becomes impossible to generate sufficient turnover to pay all involved with adequate profit to stay afloat,” said Pather.
