lockdown restaurants

Photo: Adobe Stock

No mention of restaurants, hotels in new government gazette

The latest government gazette went into detail about how hairdressers need to prepare their safety protocols, but failed to mention restaurants or hotels.

lockdown restaurants

Photo: Adobe Stock

Despite Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that restaurants, casinos, cinemas and hotels would be permitted to open after revisions were made to the Alert Level 3 lockdown regulations, no guidelines for these sectors appear in the revised copy of the government gazette. 

The gazette, published on Friday 19 June, outlines the fact that hairdressers, tattoo parlours, nail salons and other beauty facilities will be able to open and goes into detail in order to ensure that these establishments follow the right safety protocols when welcoming clients back. 

It says nothing, however, about other areas of the economy that were promised the opportunity to open up their doors again. 

Gazette lists categories of service that can open

The following categories of service that were permitted to reopen by the Department of Small Business Development Minister Khubudso Ntshavheni include:

  • Hairdressing;
  • Barbering;
  • Nail and toe treatment;
  • Facial treatment and make – up;
  • Body massage; and
  • Tattooing and body piercing.

It would appear that the gazette was published in order to outline the course of action these specific businesses will need to follow, and it is possible that a further gazette will be published that achieves the same aims regarding restaurants, cinemas and hotels. 

New measures effective immediately 

The gazetted measures are effective immediately, with new laws coming into play as soon as they are published.

Around the country, restaurant owners are gearing up to reopen and unite guests back for sit-down meals, but as of yet they have not received clear instructions as to what rules they will have to follow in order to operate safely. 

The news that casinos would be permitted to open came as a surprise to many South Africans, who are scratching their heads at the irony that you are permitted to roll the dice in a casino but are still restricted from visiting friends and family.