There are growing calls to end the COVID-19 curfew before New Year’s Eve following criticism by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that the curfew was ineffective.
There’s currently an online petition running initiated by Beerhouse founder Randolf Jorberg and the Hospitality Leadership group urging the president to end the curfew.
The Hospitality Leadership group said that for the past 21 months, citizens had been living with a curfew that had not shown to have any effect on the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
It also said that the curfew infringed on basic rights enshrined in the Constitution.
DA leader John Steenhuisen has also called on the president to end the curfew before the new year.
He said that the real crisis now was the state of the economy and widespread suffering from loss of income.
And Cape Town Mayco member for Economic Growth, James Vos, said that 24-hour economic activity was needed to boost the economy, especially hospitality and tourism, restaurants and the events industry, which were major employers.
He said that it could not be allowed to let the economy and, in particular the tourism sector, small businesses and informal traders, endure further losses due to restricted trading hours.