COVID-19: Governments disregard for the needs of the private sector

… navigating through the COVID-19 LOCKDOWN scandal …

GOVERNMENTs DISREGARD

for the needs of the

PRIVATE SECTOR

Seven days ago, on Wednesday 17 June 2020, the President announced the opening of the Restaurant-, Accommodation-, Casino-, Personal Care- and Theatre Sectors.

All of that was subject to the regulations stipulating the conditions under which these sectors were to open.

Today, seven days after the President’s speech, with the exception of personal care services, none of these regulations have been gazetted.

The bureaucrats responsible for the drafting of these regulations should have had it ready at the time of the President’s announcement. If they had any appreciation for the urgency of the matter, it would have been ready.

During the almost three months since the introduction of the lockdown, these bureaucrats, at some stage, should have anticipated this event and started to prepare for it. They did not. The fact that these businesses are in a struggle for survival, clearly made no impression on them.

While they were receiving full pay, it did not cross their minds that there are people out there, who, due to no fault of their own, perhaps do not even have food on the table.

In the meantime, these sectors are waiting in dire anticipation. One wonders if there will be a bureaucrat working overtime tonight, in order to get the regulations ready. Perhaps it is just not that important to them.

Regards

We are all in this together.
Privileged and challenged to be South African.