By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Photo Credit: GCIS.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s will address the nation at 20:00 and the address comes as the country continues the rollout of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine against COVID 19.
South Africa is also seeking to stimulate the economy that has been ravaged by the lockdowns.
The official unemployment rate stands at 32.5%.
The address also follows meetings in recent days of the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), the President’s Coordinating Council (PCC) and Cabinet.
Despite the steady reduction in cases over the last month, South Africa still has a number of lockdown restrictions in place. These include:
- The sale of liquor by licensed premises for off-site consumption is permitted from 10h00 to 18h00, from Mondays to Thursdays. excluding Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The sale of liquor by licensed premises for on-site consumption is permitted, from 10h00 to 22h00;
- Every person is confined to their place of residence from 23h00 until 04h00 daily, unless a person is performing an essential service or has an emergency. People travelling on late-night flights have also been given exemption;
- Closing time for most establishments, whether indoors or outdoors, is 22h00;
- All social gatherings are prohibited;
- Gatherings at faith-based institutions, are permitted but limited to 50 persons or less for indoor venues and 100 persons or less for outdoor venues. If the venue is too small to hold the prescribed number of persons observing a distance of at least one and a half metres from each other, then not more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used.
Livestream Video Below:
Video Courtesy of SABC.