Dear Editor
The final match of the inaugural United Rugby Championship (URC) in Cape Town this weekend was proof yet again that sports and cultural events should be open to full spectator capacity. The thrilling final, which saw the Stormers come out victorious over the Bulls, highlighted South Africans’ appetite to partake in sports and culture events after two years of lockdowns and restrictions imposed by the ANC government.
The continued restrictions on venue capacities rob residents of the chance to enjoy sporting and cultural events but they are also ill-conceived in a national context that is desperate for jobs and economic expansion.
The data from the most recent fifth wave of Covid infections tells us in very clear terms that these restrictions have little to no impact on the rates of hospitalisation and death from Covid-19. Yet the ANC government continues down this irrational path of crippling crucial sectors of our economy with meaningless, authoritarian overregulation when our economy is in desperate need of stimulation. Whilst at the same time punishing those who rely on the cultural and sporting sectors for their livelihood when they have already suffered so much over the last two years.
The DA in the Western Cape, therefore, reiterates its call on President Cyril Ramaphosa to not leave us in an endless lockdown, but to scrap the regulations and allow for a return to fully capacitated events. We must strike a balance between caution and returning to normal, and the current regulations do nothing to move us forward from the pandemic.
Regards
Gillion Bosman, MPP
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Cultural Affairs and Sport
