LOCKDOWN LEVEL 3

Schools

• Two changes were made to the 23 June list of classes scheduled to reopen on 6 July:
  • removing Pre-Grade R (in an amendment issued on 29 June), and
  • in a 2 July media statement, making Grades R, 6 and 11 the only classes to resume teaching and learning on 6 July.
• These decisions were explained on 5 July in a media statement also providing insight into the decision to remove pre-Grade R classes from government’s return-to-school programme.

 

Occupational training

• A ministerial directive issued on 29 June:
  • set out the requirements to be met by reopening:
    • tertiary education and training institutions offering registered occupational sub-framework qualifications, and
    • any other training provider accredited by the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations, including sector education and training authorities.
• Focusing on institutional readiness for on-site activities, the new directive draws attention to:
  • the Department of Higher Education and Training’s 13 April guidelines, and
  • the 4 June directive on occupational health and safety.

 

Social services

 

• A ministerial directive issued on 2 July:
  • lifted restrictions on visiting residents in most residential care, treatment and rehabilitation facilities
  • confirmed that visits to residents in old age homes and frail care facilities are still prohibited
  • extended the list of people qualifying for a temporary social relief of distress grant to:
    • the holders of special permits issued under the Angola, Lesotho and Zimbabwe dispensations, and
    • ‘asylum seekers whose section 22 permits or visas … were valid on 15 March 2020’, and
  • confirmed that, during the State of Disaster, local, provincial and national Departments of Social Development ‘may’:
    • ‘temporarily provide support’ to shelters for the homeless, and
    • ‘continue to support and reprioritise’ the needs of people in those shelters.

 

Tourism

• A ministerial directive on reopening food service, accommodation, conference venue and other tourism facilities as well as casinos was gazetted on 29 June:
  • confirming the measures outlined in a 26 June media statement from Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane
  • withdrawing and replacing her 2 April directive, and
  • prescribing strict conditions to be met by all enterprises operating during the State of Disaster that include:
    • detailed daily record keeping for contact tracing purposes, and
    • daunting social distancing, health, safety and hygiene protocols given the nature of these industries.
• Meanwhile, the Portfolio Committee on Tourism has called for written submissions from members of the public on:
  • using the focus on domestic tourism during the international pandemic to:
    • speed up sector transformation, and
    • promote tourism development in ‘villages, townships and small dorpies’.

 

Civil aviation

• A ministerial directive issued on 2 July confirmed:
  • A 29 June announcement from Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula about civil aviation activities permitted during the State of Disaster, and
  • listed the airports now open for domestic business flights.
• The new directive amended one in place since 31 March (already revised on 30 May).

 

DEVELOPMENTS UNRELATED TO THE COVID-19 STATE OF DISASTER

 

Basic income grant

• A media statement on the ANC’s recent national executive committee meeting confirmed the party’s intention to ‘urgently look at the feasibility and detailed modalities of a basic income grant’, which should include its ‘costing and financing’.
• According to SABC News, ‘Parliament’s Economic Portfolio Committee’ has been asked to explore the possibility of making the Covid-19 State of Disaster R350 per month ‘temporary social relief grant’ ‘permanent’.

 

Fishing rights

• The Department of Environment, Forestry & Fisheries has announced a programme leading up to the next fishing rights allocation, including:
  • a series of socio-economic impact assessment studies
  • a review of existing fishing rights allocation policies
  • consultations on possible changes (scheduled to begin in November), and
  • a call for applications (scheduled to be made on 1 February 2021).
• Applications will be received until 2 April 2021.
• The next fishing rights allocation process is expected to take place between 17 May and 30 November 2021.

 

Nursing and midwifery

• Draft regulations on nursing and midwifery scopes of practice were gazetted on 3 July for public comment.

Films and publications

• Members of the public have been invited to comment on draft regulations aimed at:
  • protecting children from exposure to ‘disturbing, harmful and age-inappropriate material’ (especially online and by way of social media platforms), and
  • curbing the distribution of films, games and publications containing images or scenes of child pornography.

 

Banks

• A conduct standard for banks was issued on 3 July:
  • aimed at ‘ensuring the fair treatment of financial customers’, and
  • as a ‘first step’ in ‘rolling out a comprehensive market conduct regulatory framework for the banking sector’.

 

Scrap metal

 

• A trade policy directive gazetted on 3 July:
  • gave the International Trade Administration Commission of SA two months to investigate the shortage of ‘affordable good quality scrap metal’ affecting local mini-mills and foundries
  • referred to the possibility of amendments to existing preferential pricing guidelines to address this in the short-term, and
  • prohibited the export of specific categories of ferrous and non-ferrous waste and scrap during that period.
• In the longer-term, government intends introducing an export duty on scrap metal as the primary measure for making it more readily available to local beneficiating industries at an affordable price.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby