State of Disaster Extended

By: Sthulile Mdletshe

Government has extended the National State of Disaster to the 15th of April.

Last year March, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster to enable the government to develop a coordinated disaster management mechanism to mitigate Covid-19.

On Monday, the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) convened following mounting calls for the president to scrape the state of disaster.

Civil organisations and opposition parties have previously said there isn’t any rational basis for the continuation of the state of disaster.

Covid-19 stats and indicators are pointing to Covid-19 infections reaching a general plateau with a continuous low infection rate

However, COGTA Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says South Africa cannot rush to lift the state of disaster as government needs to continue adapting existing laws around the impact of the pandemic.