South Africa’s New Lockdown Regulation Changes

The South African cabinet has announced that the government had made a number of new changes to the regulations under Level 3 lockdown.

According to the statement by cabinet, those changes were based on health assessment which would be presented next week. The assessment was made by the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC).

Of these recommendations, the Cabinet has decided to defer approval of the recommendations pending a full health assessment report from the Ministerial Health Advisory Committee on Covid-19.

However, the government published a number of new changes this week which were aimed at amending the regulations that were still in place under lockdown level 3 as well as to clarify issues affecting a number of sectors.

Below is a summary of those new changes:

Travel:

International travel is allowed, provided that it is for the return of a South African national or permanent resident to his or her place of employment, study or residence, outside of the country.

Citizens are required to have at least five working days in advance of the intended date of travel, and also provide the Department of Home Affairs with:

* A copy of his or her valid South African passport;

* A letter of confirmation of admissibility or the validity of the visa or permit issued by the relevant diplomatic or consular mission or authority of the receiving country;

* A proof of permission to transit, in the case where transiting through another country is involved.

* Proof of the means of travel and the intended date of departure.

Sports:

Teams should make sure that all safety protocols are observed in regards to rules pertaining to training as well as hosting of events.

The new changes only apply to the presumption of non – contact sports such as: Cycling; Golf; Rowing; Tennis; Cricket; Squash.

Contact sports such as football and rugby are allowed to resume but under strict safety conditions.

Media and Arts:

These new changes also speak to the Arts and Culture industry, with reference to the rules around film and television production.

More people are allowed to be on set during filming and television production. The new changes also speak to live to stream.

SCHOOLS:

The department of Basic Education has released a new and updated school holidays calendar, which gives learners a total of seven days of rest of the year.

Here is the new academic holidays calendar:

Financial Sector Laws Amendment Bill of 2020.

The submission of the Financial Sector Laws Amendment Bill of 2020 to Parliament was also approved by the cabinet.

The main objective of the Bill was to designate the South African Reserve Bank as the Resolution Authority. It was also to enhance the SARB’s regulatory tools for discharging its statutory mandate, in order to ensure the stability of the financial system in the country.