Like in the days of apartheid when “pass laws” required non-whites to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted areas, Lockdown in South Africa re-inforces such unpalatable memories – work permit is needed to go to and from work, even under the Level3 Alert in South Africa.
Thursday’s ministerial briefing by South African ministers clarified some knotty issues as about 8 million workers resume work in the sixth most populous African nation.
A receipt must be provided if a cigarette is found on you. Pastors must NOT lay hands on the sick. You may drive-through but can’t go into restaurants. You need a permit to move from one province to another. The Police head, Bheki Cele said: “If it is prohibited to be sold, it is prohibited to be bought… Police have a right to seek the receipt of where you have bought the cigarettes… The onus is on you to tell us, where did you buy those cigarettes.”
These laws may not be too harsh on the older non-white population but the whites who have always had freedom whilst they limited others may NOW feel the heat they heaped on others in the past.
Like the Population Registration Act of 1950 provided the basic framework for a series of Land Acts which set aside more than 80 percent of the country’s land for the white minority, a good part of South Africa cannot be traversed with impunity without enough proof that your travel is essential and within the set standards of precaution as the nation aggressively curbs the spread of Covid-19.
Now, an essential or permitted work permit from the employer is required for all, and funerals require the necessary official affidavit-based permit.
Specifically from 1 June, initiation schools are still on hold. this winter. Every form of vigil is still banned. Social gatherings are still prohibited plus gyms or athletics clubs. You can’t sit and eat in restaurants. Shebeens, bars, nightclubs, cinemas, theatres,conferencing ceneters hairdressers/nail/beauty salons, beaches or parks are still not open.
Domestic business air travel will be allowed in the future but interprovincial travel remains NO-NO except in special circumstances (medical treatment or to return home from a quarantine facility, and to transport cargo) – and mostly with permits.
A prescribed affidavit form sworn before a magistrate or police official is needed to move house across provinces, or to move to care for a close family member.
You may now get grilled chicken from the restaurant whilst the face mask is still non-negotiable. Handwashing, physical distancing, and not more than fifty people for religious gatherings make some people feel they are in jail. But it seems better to go to prison that to die sooner than planned.
Sports matches may be held without contacts or spectators (sitting closely) and funerals may hold under supervision by authorities who ensure attendance is not beyond fifty. From 6am to 6pm, non-group exercises are allowed.
Students may cross provinces, districts, or move between metropoles with a permit form completed by the principal or head of institution.
It’s a season of plenty permits so that we may have enough permission to live healthily beyond the deadly season of Covid-19.
