Cosatu welcomes mooted move to level 3
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has welcomed the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa to start consultations and lower the lockdown to Level 3 in much of the country.
The trade union federation has been calling on government to scale down the strict regulations, saying the COVID-19 pandemic is deepening the economic crisis.
"What the president outlined acknowledges what we have been saying that we need to move to level 3 when we are ready. He made it very clear that parts of the country that are ready for level 3 will move. We believe that his decision was guided by facts," says Cosatu's Sizwe Pamla.
Pamla says it is important to explore opening all sectors of the economy.
"Not all sectors of the economy are going to survive lockdown,we need to ensure that we open all sectors of the economy so that some of the workers who fall off can be absorbed by other sectors of the economy which may have potential to absorb more people," adds Pamla.
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Ramaphosa addressed the nation from the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Wednesday evening. The president announced that consultations will get underway to move much of the country to level 3 of the lockdown regulations at the end of May. Ramaphosa acknowledged that the government has asked a lot from South Africans.