Hawkers permitted to trade during lockdown
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has given hawkers the green light to trade during the 21-day national lockdown.
Various ministers provided an update on Thursday on the revised Covid-19 lockdown regulations.
Previously only retailers and spaza shops could sell essential goods during the lockdown.
People flocked to the major retailers to buy even basic good such as bread, creating a logistical nightmare for shops asked to keep customers to a minimum.
ALSO READ:
NGO welcomes lifting of cigarette ban in Western Cape
The provincial government announced on Wednesday that cigarettes may now be sold in the province, but only to customers also buying essential goods. It is the only province to have lifted the ban. The National Disaster Act had outlawed the sale of cigarettes during the three-week lockdown period.
Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the revised regulations will take the pressure off retailers.
“All spaza shops should be opened.
“Now we have included informal food traders, so those who trading in food informally will now be allowed, but they must just get a permit from their councillor or from their municipality and they are free to trade.”
At the same time Justice Minister Ronald Lamola slammed accusations that the government didn’t have a handle on the regulations.
Lamola welcomed the addition of informal traders to the list of essential services, saying government must be able to tighten or relax regulations where necessary.
“One of the unintended consequences was the one of informal traders and spaza shops, which you would have seen in some of the malls and shopping centres that people have flocked even to buy bread or to buy tomatoes, which could have been offered close to where they stay.”