Cogta minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has extended South Africa’s national state of disaster by another month.
The state of disaster is now set to expire on 15 December 2021 which would make it the 21st month under the state of disaster since it was declared at the end of March 2020.
In a government gazette published over the weekend, the minister said that the extension considers the need to augment the existing legislation and contingency arrangement that were undertaken by the state to address the impact of the disaster.
While the national state of disaster was initially supposed to expire on 15 June 2020, the act provides that the Cogta minister can extend it by notice in the gazette for one month at a time before it lapses.
The government relies on the regulations to introduce and give effect to lockdown restrictions in an effort to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. It also faces criticism for giving the national government power over the lives of citizens without input or oversight from parliament.
The government has made it clear that they want a higher vaccine uptake before lifting the restrictions for good and with fears of fourth wave occurring they are reserving the right to introduce a higher level of lockdown should it become necessary.
On Sunday (14 November), South Africa reported 262 new cases of Covid-19, taking the total reported to 2,925,939.
Deaths have reached 89,484 (+8), while recoveries have climbed to 2,819,688, leaving the country with a balance of 16,767 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 23,950,956 (+39,479).
Sources: BusinessTech, MSN
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