State of Disaster regulations amended

• On 25 June, a Government Gazette notice was published:
  • amending the 29 April regulations on contact tracing to allow:
    • the inclusion of geospatial hotspot mapping in the Covid-19 database, and
    • the use of cell phone and computer applications for data collection, and
  • amending the 28 May regulations to:
    • allow limited travel for leisure purposes
    • conferences and meetings for up to 50 participants
    • allow up to 50 people to attend a cinema or theatre performance
    • reopen casinos (limited to 50% available floor space capacity), and
    • reopen museums, galleries, libraries and archives.

Tourism

• Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane issued a media statement on 26 June listing:
  • measures to be taken by reopening:
    • conference and meeting venues
    • casinos
    • accommodation facilities, and
    • restaurants and similar facilities.
• Among other things:
  • a screening questionnaire should now be completed by every guest at:
    • a restaurant or similar facility offering sit-down meals
    • any accommodation facility, and by
    • every conference and business meeting attendee
  • access to the premises may be denied to anyone not wearing a face mask
  • sanitising protocols at restaurants and similar facilities offering sit-down meals, fast food collection or meal deliveries should include:
    • measures to be taken when making card and cash payments, and
    • handling menus (non-touch menus should be introduced if possible)
  • prohibited practices include:
    • self-serve buffets
    • shared jugs of water and other beverages
    • shared condiment containers
    • bowls of mints or other sweets and snacks
  • a register should be kept of everyone entering the premises
  • all surfaces should be regularly sanitised, including:
    • microphones
    • podiums, and
    • gambling machines, and
  • employees should be trained on all necessary procedures.
• The new measures came into force on 29 June, but at the time of writing the necessary ministerial directive had yet to be gazetted.

 

Schools

• On 23 June, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga issued a directive withdrawing and replacing her 29 May directive  (amended on 1 June) and confirming that:
  • pre-Grade R and Grade R classes will reopen on 1 July

• schools for autistic learners 13 years of age and older will reopen on 3 August
• hygiene and safety standards at reopened schools will be monitored, and
• more sophisticated personal protective clothing will be provided to educators working with special needs children unable to maintain social distancing.

• The new directive also:
  • deals with reopening hostels, and
  • refers stakeholders to information on:
    • curriculum trimming and re-organisation
    • standard operating procedures during the State of Disaster
    • guidelines on maintaining hygiene, and
    • South African Institute of Occupational Safety & Health guidelines on essential worker symptom monitoring and management.

 

Health

 

• During a webinar hosted recently by the University of the Western Cape, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize referred to the appointment of a ‘multi-sectoral ministerial committee’ to advise him and Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu on behavioural change strategies for promoting:
  • social distancing
  • regular hygiene practice, and
  • voluntary separation from society ‘when necessary’.
• According to a statement on the Department of Health’s Covid-19 website, the committee’s work will also influence:
  • the process of giving practical effect to the July 2019 health compact, and
  • ‘ultimately’ rolling out national health insurance.

 

Correctional services

• A new ministerial directive was gazetted on 22 June:
  • replacing the 9 April directive
  • applicable for the remainder of the State of Disaster
  • suspending:
    • any day parole granted to sentenced offenders
    • ‘all community services previously rendered by parolees and probationers’, and
    • access to amenities, consultations and visits

• prohibiting:
  • the transfer of inmates from one facility or centre to another, and
  • ‘office visitations by parolees and probationers’
  • restricting visits by specialists, dentists, psychiatrists, physiotherapists and other ‘external non-essential health care providers’, except in medical emergencies
  • allowing remand detainees to be referred to the courts for the length of their stay in detention to be decided
  • prioritising court appearances by new remand detainees unable to raise bail, and
  • allowing ‘the submission of bail review applications to court for existing remand detainees’.

 

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS UNRELATED TO THE COVID-19 STATE OF DISASTER

National master plan for tackling illegal substance availability, use, misuse and abuse

The National Drug Master Plan 2019–2024 was officially launched on 26 June.

Protection of Personal Information Act

• On 22 June, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that most remaining sections of the Act will be in force from 1 July.
• A presidential proclamation confirming this was gazetted the same day.

 

Sugar industry master plan

 

• Key features of the sugar industry master plan’s three-year phase one gazetted on 23 June include:
  • securing ‘the foundational role’ of small-scale growers and independent millers
  • mitigating the impact of capacity reductions on workers and small-scale growers
  • restructuring to ‘significantly’ advance ownership and participation transformation
  • ‘no less than 80%’ of industrial sugar users and retailers requirements to be sourced from South African sugar growers and producers during the first year (increasing to 95% by the third year)
  • ‘price restraint’ on the part of sugar producers, and
  • a one-year exemption from certain sections of the Competition Act.

 

Infrastructure development

• This will be at the centre of government’s post-Covid-19 economic recovery plan according to:
  • President Cyril Ramaphosa in:
    • an address on 23 June at the virtual sustainable infrastructure development symposium, and
    • a foreword to the document released that day, and
  • Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in his supplementary Budget speech on 24 June.

 

Waste stream management

 

• A draft framework for the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of extended producer responsibility schemes was gazetted on 26 June for public comment.
  • Input is also invited on waste management proposals for:
    • the lighting sector
    • paper and packaging sector (including single-use products), and
    • the electrical and electronic equipment sector.

 

Estuarine management

• A draft estuarine management protocol was gazetted on 26 June for public comment.

Prepared by Pam Saxby