All South African restaurants, takeaways and food delivery will be closed during South Africa’s 21-day coronavirus lockdown, said Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kuyabi-Ngubane.
In a letter to the restaurant industry on Tuesday, Kuyabi-Ngubane said: “In compliance with the nation-wide lockdown it should be noted that ALL restaurants, cafes,
bars, coffee shops will be required to comply with the nation-wide lockdown for 21 days.”
“Such service providers have NOT been included on the list of what has been deemed essential services during the lockdown and will NOT be permitted to operate and will thus need to be closed for the duration,” she said.
“In addition, in compliance with the nation-wide lockdown ALL food delivery services will also need to be suspended for 21 days with effect from midnight Thursday, 26 March 2020 until midnight Thursday, 16 April 2020.”
Also read: Coronavirus: South Africa to go on Lockdown
The National Coronavirus Command Council has decided to enforce a 21-day nation-wide lockdown with effect from midnight on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday.
In a televised address to the nation, the President announced that the lockdown is necessary in order to save lives in light of the Coronavirus.
“This is a decisive measure to save millions of South Africans from infection and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. While this measure will have a considerable impact on people’s livelihoods, on the life of our society and on our economy, the human cost of delaying this action would be far, far greater,” said President Ramaphosa.
Also read: Coronavirus: 4 Million S.Africans to Get R500 a Month
As part of a swift and extraordinary action to deal with coronavirus, Ramaphosa announced measures to assist businesses that may be in distress and a windfall for some individual taxpayers.
“Using the tax system, we will provide a tax subsidy of up to R500 per month for the next four months for those private-sector employees earning below R6,500 under the Employment Tax Incentive,” said Ramaphosa.
He added that this will help over 4 million workers.
The South African Revenue Service will also work towards accelerating the payment of employment tax incentive reimbursements from twice a year to monthly to get cash into the hands of compliant employers as soon as possible.
