Curfew relaxed, leisure travel gets green light
Cabinet has decided to relax the COVID-19 curfew from 9pm to 10pm, Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane announced on Thursday.
She made the announcement at a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday.
This was done in order to accommodate restaurants, which have had to cut their trading hours short due to the curfew.
Restaurants held a peaceful picket last week where they complained that to get their staff home by 21:00 they'd have close their businesses at around 19:00.
But Kubayi-Ngubane said-despite the lobbying from eateries - the alcohol ban will remain in place.
"To comply with the current curfew regulation, restaurants are unable to serve dinner to their customers which means that they are unable to operate at peak time of their business day.
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"In response to this challenge, Cabinet has agreed to move the curfew to start at 10 pm to allow for uninterrupted dinner service at restaurants. We believe that this change will go a long way towards increasing their revenue generation," Kubayi-Ngubane said.
Kubayi-Ngubane said leisure travel accommodation will be allowed within provinces.
Inter-provincial leisure travel is still prohibited.
"Let me emphasise, it is only intra-provincial travel, not inter-provincial travel.
"Individuals are still not permitted to travel between provinces for leisure purposes," she added.
Kubayi-Ngubane said the new regulations will come into effect as soon as they are gazetted.
