Western Cape to propose amendment of regulations for opening of economic sectors

The Western Cape government says it will make proposals and submissions in the coming week to amend regulations in order to open up other sectors of the economy.

It wants to see the economy up and running as soon as possible.

However, Western Cape Minister for Finance and Economic Opportunity, David Maynier, says businesses will be allowed to operate if they can do so safely.

?| We can open the economy wider without compromising public safety.

Government’s approach to specifying who can and can’t work in Level 4 is unnecessarily blunt and restrictive.

?Here’s the difference between our DA proposals and government’s proposed L4.#Day33ofLockdown pic.twitter.com/2NuykQQb00

— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) April 28, 2020

“We think there’s scope to expand manufacturing particularly of goods for export. We think there’s scope to open up certain sections of the construction industry and also to further expand the scope of e-commerce and so we’ll be focussing on those sectors during the course of next week,” says Maynier.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which governs the province has been calling on the national government to reopen the economy.

The party proposed a “Smart Lockdown” plan which could potentially save the economy.

DA leader John Steenhuisen has said that the party’s Smart Lockdown Working Paper is a sustainable and implementable solution to the fight against the virus.

“South Africa cannot afford a hard lockdown. The economic repercussions of a hard and extended lockdown will be disastrous for the South African economy, and thousands of taxpaying citizens will emerge from it unemployed as a result. Furthermore, South Africa does not have the fiscal space necessary to accommodate the severe assault a hard lockdown will unleash on our economy.

In this video, DA leader John Steenhuisen proposes a “Smart Lockdown”

The infographic below shows Level 4 lockdown regulations