Lockdown regulations must be corrected right now - Sakeliga
25 March 2020
“The lockdown regulations published earlier this evening, prohibiting remote business operations, are in direct conflict with statements by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Sakeliga absolutely agrees with the President when he said on Sunday that ‘businesses that are able to continue their operations remotely should do so’.
So says Piet le Roux, CEO of Sakeliga, an independent business organisation representing a business network of more than 15 000 companies, businesspeople and local chambers of commerce.
Sakeliga has now requested the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to issue, as a matter of extreme urgency, a correction of the error contained in the lockdown regulations published earlier this evening.
Section 11B(1)(b) of the “lockdown regulations” states that “All businesses and other entities shall cease operation during the lockdown, save for any business or entity involved in ... essential good(s) and service(s).” Read with sub-regulation 11G, it would be a criminal offence for any person who attempts to conduct business remotely, even whilst complying in all other respects with the regulations issued under the Disaster Management Act.