End the National State of Disaster ahead of 15 March 2022

Dear Editor

The National Government has recently made statements alluding to the National State of Disaster and its Regulations coming to an end shortly. While this is very promising – there are still no clear timelines for exactly when this will happen. This is despite the declaration expiring in less than two weeks’ time.

On 11 February 2022, I wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting a meeting to discuss the roadmap to ­­end of the National State of Disaster, following his State of the Nation Address commitment.

In response, the Presidency asked that I instead engage with the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who then, in turn, proposed that the issue should rather be discussed at the President’s Coordinating Council (PCC). No clear date or time was provided as to when this would take place.

Given the impending deadline, I am requesting that the President urgently convene the recommended PCC to discuss the steps that need to be taken to end the National State of Disaster and allow the Regulations to expire in their entirety.

This PCC must take place well before the Regulations expire on 15 March 2022 – to ensure that they are not simply renewed beforehand.

There are simply no compelling reasons for the extension of the National State of Disaster. We need to normalise our COVID-19 response through existing public health measures and empower and enable provinces to respond in the future.

Taking this important step should not take this long. I called for the end of the National State of Disaster and for the publication of a roadmap to end the disaster in October last year already. The National Government have had more than enough time to prepare.

The Quarterly Labour Force Statistics shows us that between 1 July 2020 and 30 September 2021, 183 000 people became unemployed in the Western Cape. This is the second pandemic of unemployment which will also cost lives, and which requires our full attention.

That is why we must do the right thing and end the National State of Disaster, and instead focus our energy on creating an enabling environment for the private sector to create jobs.

Regards

Alan Winde
Western Cape Premier

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