Remaining at level 4 will cost millions of jobs: Makhura
Gauteng Premier David Makhura has warned that millions of the province’s residents could lose their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Makhura was responding to questions during the Gauteng legislature’s first virtual sitting on Tuesday morning.
The premier of the country's economic hub says the pandemic is a global socio-economic disaster which could be compared to the Great Depression.
"In Gauteng, we are estimating in the best-case scenario we will have about 890 000 people losing jobs.
“In the worst-case scenario will have up 2 million job losses in the Gauteng economy, the numbers at a national level is 7 million jobs," says Makhura.
The premier says the economic impact on the province is far worse than expected and for that reason Gauteng cannot remain at level 4 of the lockdown.
"Tomorrow, we are meeting with various sectors of the economy, we are preparing for level three. We want to move to level 3 to open the economy.
"Insisting that we balance level the health and economic imperatives. We cannot stay on this leave way too long, because some people do not have the means to maintain life.”
Gauteng set to move to level 3 in June
This comes a week after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that consultations would get underway to move much of the country to level 3 of the lockdown regulations. The provincial legislature convened its first ever virtual sitting on Tuesday where Makhura lauded the province's efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19.