The Restaurant Association of South Africa (Rasa) has issued a call for the further relaxation of the country’s lockdown restrictions, as thousands of businesses continue trading in a restricted environment, including reduced hours.
The Rasa’s chief executive, Wendy Alberts, has said that an estimated 1 100 restaurants have shut down during the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said that while the Rasa once had a database of over 23 400 restaurants, this has since dropped to 9 000 since the start of the pandemic and leaving thousands of workers jobless.
Alberts added that calls for financial assistance from the government have fallen on deaf ears.
Data from Statistics South Africa has shown that close to 1 000 businesses have been liquidated in the first half of 2021.
South Africa moved to an adjusted level 3 lockdown on 25 July, with a number of restrictions still in place on restaurants and other businesses. This includes:
- An evening curfew from 22h00 – 04h00
- Non-essential establishments, such as restaurants, gyms and fitness centres, can operate but must close by 21h00;
- The sale of alcohol from retail outlets for off-site consumption will be permitted between 10h00 and 18h00 from Monday to Thursday. Alcohol sales for on-site consumption will be permitted as per licence conditions up to 20h00;
- Gatherings are allowed but are limited to 50 people indoors and 100 outdoors. Only 50 people are allowed to attend funerals.
Source: BusinessTech
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