Wendy Alberts, CEO of the Restaurant Association, spoke with eNCA's Shahan Ramkissoon. Courtesy ofJOHANNESBURG - Business leaders are calling for the government to put effort into a regional approach to lockdowns in order to deliver the best outcomes.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation on government's interventions to combat the surge in coronavirus cases in hotspot areas in some parts of South Africa.Business wants lockdowns to be kept localised, allowing the rest of the country to function as close to normal as possible.
Wendy Alberts, CEO of the Restaurant Association, said the restaurant industry has been diligent in collecting contact details and measuring their customer's temperatures but said the government has not communicated with them when carrying out contact tracing.
"The next question that we have is: we want the scientific evidence that our clients that we are responsible for, have brought COVID into our restaurants. We certainly have not been given that." "We've given [the] government three months to engage with us, talk to our establishments and look at solutions. If we are spreading COVID, what mechanisms can we do to work together, instead of destroying our industry again and destroying the economy?" she said.
If the people really appreciate their jobs and livelihoods they will do the right thing and observe covid protocol. People in SA are not doing that. You see people out and about without masks, not adhering to social distancing either!
It's always government consideration! People are not adhering to covid protocol...1 in 3 people aren't wearing masks and social distancing is non-existant!