The Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs announced, on Tuesday, that the national state of disaster will be extended, despite murmurs it would be ended.
Why is the National State of Disaster extended?
In the gazetted notice, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma confirmed South Africa will remain under the national state of disaster until 15 April 2022, taking into account “the need to continue augmenting the existing legislation and contingency arrangements undertaken by organs of state to address the impact of the disaster.”
The announcements comes a few days after President Cyril Ramaphosa had teased the possibility of ending the state of disaster.
“Well, we [are] giving consideration to that and, as I said, I want it to come to an end, and we [are] looking at medical measures, or health measures, rather, that can be put in place to enable us to continue managing the pandemic. So, it will not be heavy duty, it will be light duty so that we are able to manage this pandemic going forward,” he told reporters.
We are looking into ending the State of National Disaster, but we must ensure that we have the necessary health measures in place to help us effectively manage the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/gNlh07VjpI
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) March 12, 2022
Under the national state of disaster, basic COVID-19 regulations such as wearing face masks in public, and maintaining social distance are still mandatory.
Whether this is the last extension remains to be seen. From what we understand, at the centre of the government’s concern is finding a way to contain COVID-19 after the regulations have been suspended.