City asks for Covid capacity restrictions at public venues to be scrapped
19 January 2022
I have written to President Cyril Ramaphosa with two specific requests: One, that the “50% capacity rule” for outdoor public facilities, like public swimming pools, be lifted entirely. Two, that spectators be allowed to return to watch major sporting events (such as the India-South Africa cricket tour).
As the summer peak season gets into full gear, and the latest Omicron variant of Covid-19 proves to have less of a negative impact than the previous Delta variant, the resumption of public, entertainment and sporting events should be a priority for aiding economic recovery.
The City of Cape Town has high-quality public swimming pools around the City, from the famous Sea Point Pavilion, to pools in Philippi, Bellville, Hanover Park, Mnandi, Khayelitsha, Newlands and Goodwood. In the summer, these pools are extremely popular venues for family outings, and thousands flock here every day. At the moment, people are queuing from as early as 04:00 to get in, but we are forced to stagger the entry times to adhere to the 50% capacity rule. This often results in many people going home instead.
The City of Cape Town has shown that we can safely manage large events with clear adherence to health safety protocols to protect residents and spectators. Since October last year, we have hosted the Cycle Tour, the ABSA Cape Epic, Miss SA, the Cape Town Marathon and the FNB One Run among others. All of these are high-profile and large events hosted successfully during a pandemic. In all of these cases, we can provide data to show that the number of infections from the respective event have been very low.