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Government called to reconsider new curfew

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The City of Cape Town is calling on the national government to reconsider the new curfew introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week.

Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities, James Vos, says the 11pm to 4am curfew has led to the cancellation of scores of flights as many airlines had late night operations.

He says this will cost many jobs and affect thousands of travel plans at a time when South Africa’s economy cannot afford another setback.

Vos says they are currently recording 110 flights per day at the Cape Town International Airport.

“We need the visitor economy to get our businesses back on track. Cape Town is heavily reliant on the tourism industry, especially at this time of the year when we need more bums on seats and boxes in the belly. This means more passenger arrivals and products being exported as cargo. We want to see changes in the curfew times to allow more economic activity instead of cancellations. Within the framework of COVID-19 protocols.”

Meanwhile, festive season travellers are urged to take all precautions as they head to their holiday destinations.

In the Western Cape – the Transport Department says traffic officials are out in full force.

The department’s Jandre Bakker says officers are busy with fatigue management operations.

Traffic volumes are on par with what is usually expected  at this time of year and we cannot say whether we are are seeing an increase or decrease in intra-provincial travel yet. We are busy with our second fatigue management operation this weekend and we cautiously optimistic about the levels of compliance.”

DA Shadow Minister for Tourism Dean Macpherson, says he’s written to President Cyril Ramaphosa and Cooperative…

Posted by SABC News Western Cape on Sunday, 20 December 2020

 

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