COVID-19 STATE OF DISASTER

 

• President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of a return to lockdown level two was confirmed on 31 May by notice in the Government Gazette. According to the President:
  • curfew now begins at 23:00 each evening and ends at 04:00 the following morning
  • ‘non-essential establishments’ should close ‘by 22:00’, enabling staff to return home before the curfew begins each evening (these establishments are listed in the new regulations)
  • gatherings are ‘limited to a maximum of 100 people indoors and 250 people outdoors’, and
  • ‘where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, then no more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used’.
• Among other things, the new regulations:
  • once again prohibit night vigils and after-funeral gatherings
  • permit all initiation practices, ‘subject to the submission of a risk-adjusted plan’ to the relevant authorities, as prescribed, and strict adherence to applicable protocols, and
  • prohibit liquor consumption in all public places except those with the necessary licence.

 

• A ministerial directive was gazetted on 28 May:
  • confirming the 19 May suspension of school contact sports
  • suspending non-contact school sport and ‘co-curricular and enrichment programme’ activities requiring learners to travel to other schools or provinces, and
  • subject to certain conditions, requiring primary schools and schools for learners with special needs to ‘return to the daily attendance and traditional timetabling model from 26 July’.

 

• On 28 May, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa issued amended regulations extending the validity of temporary spectrum assignments issued in April 2020 to alleviate the impact of lockdown restrictions. Among other things, the amendments also:
  • reaffirm licensee obligations to support virtual classroom platforms, and
  • lift the temporary suspension of community broadcasting licensee annual general meeting requirements.

 

FISHING RIGHTS

 

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has extended the deadline for public comment on documents emerging from Phase 1 of its socio-economic impact assessment of fishing rights allocation policies.

 

COMMUNICATIONS

 

• The deadline for public comment on draft electronic equipment authorisation regulations gazetted in March has been extended.

 

FINANCE

 

• The South African Reserve Bank is calling for input on its latest failed bank resolution discussion paper.

 

TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COMPETITION

 

• A recently gazetted memorandum of understanding between the Competition Commission and the Council for Medical Schemes is expected to assist in implementing recommendations emerging from the Competition Commission’s health market inquiry.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby