Pretoria - Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has allowed South Africans to visit their wholesale shops and buy enough clothes to fend off the winter season.
Last night Dlamini-Zuma listed the wholesalers as among the list of retailers and businesses that will be allowed to operate as the country shifts its lockdown regulation to level 4.
This will come into effect from Friday, May 1.
“These wholesalers will be open to allow people to buy blankets and fabric for making cloth masks,” she said.
She, however, earlier told the media the National Command Council was inundated with requests to open hairdressers, but those who made the request received little reprieve.
“We heard you, but that cannot be allowed. There will be no social distancing at those hairdressers. The people will be in contact with each other. It is too risky to do so,” she said.
Dlamini-Zuma, however, encouraged people to go to shops and buy products for themselves and do their hair at home.
“The hairdresser can also give advice online. When the risk of Covid-19 is gone, it is only then that we can allow them to open. It was one of the popular requests."
She added the sale of cooked food would remain banned, but people would now be allowed to order food from restaurants, which would be delivered to their homes.
Restaurants and other food outlets would be allowed to operate from 9am to 7pm for the duration of the level 4 lockdown.
“This would allow the employees of the food outlets to go home before the curfew,” she emphasised.
She made these comments following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement last week that a curfew would be implemented from 8pm until 5am from May 1.
Dlamini-Zuma also brought relief to those working from home and studying online, saying all telecommunication service providers such as Telkom and other big IT and communication networks would be back to work.
“They will be able to visit homes to install your electronic equipment and fix computers,” she said.
The National Command Council had also decided that all major banks and big business would resume their duties, but encouraged those who could work from home to continue doing so.
According to her, South African ports would be open to allow for goods to be exported.
She also announced that the government had done a U-turn and was keeping in place the ban on cigarette sales following political pressure to keep tobacco off the shelves until the less severe stages of the lockdown.
She said tobacco sales were prohibited as they encouraged “the spread of Covid-19”.
ANC structures had vehemently opposed the unbanning, citing health risks attendant with smoking.
“Smokers have a tendency of sharing a cigarette and thus a potential of increasing infections as those who might have Covid-19 will leave droplets of saliva on the filters of cigarettes to be shared with others,” ANC Women’s League secretary-general Meokgo Matuba said.
The EFF had rebuked the announcement of the unbanning.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also warned against smoking, saying it severely damaged lungs and other parts of the body.
“Smokers likely face more severe symptoms if infected, leading to hospitalisation and premature death,” the WHO cautioned this week.
The DA called the banning of cigarettes “illogical, unjustifiable and creating an illicit market worth billions of rand, as well as a criminal network surrounding it”.
“Cigarette sales will also reignite much-needed revenue into the fiscus taxes on sales,” the party said.
The DA’s views were supported by Tax Justice South Africa’s Yusuf Abramjee, who said the county should unite against illegal cigarette sales.
“These cigarettes are supplied by crooks, who don’t pay the tax that makes up most of the price of the legal product and have been stealing R8 billion from the state every year.”