DA repeats call for govt to scrap state of disaster

The party believes it is restricting South Africa's social and economic recovery.

Party leader John Steenhuisen is calling for an end to all Covid-19 restrictions, saying all energies need to be shifted towards regaining what's been lost.

"On 23 March it will be two years since South Africa entered a three-week lockdown to prepare for the Covid-19 epidemic.

"Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs, thousands of livelihoods have been destroyed, millions of school and university days have been missed, and billions of rands have been lost to tax revenue, which could have gone to poverty relief."

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"The epidemic phase is over and it really shows that the only state of disaster that the country is in, is the self-imposed one caused by ongoing restrictions which do more harm than good."

He say restrictions need to removed so we can be able to work in stimulating the economy.

"We now read that government is planning to make some of these and other restrictions permanent by legislating them. This will continue to strangle our economy, harm young people in education, and deepen worsening poverty. 

"The only part of the disaster regulations that should stay in place is the state of disaster grant, precisely because of the jobs crisis. Nothing else is justified."