Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has gazetted the draft post national state of disaster regulations pertaining to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of 27(2) of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002) for public comment for a period of 48 hours ending on Friday, 1 April 2022.
The Minister gazetted the Regulations following recommendations from the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre as well as a decision by a special Cabinet meeting held last night to receive further reports and advice regarding the management of the ongoing effects of the disaster and ongoing management of the pandemic.
The Minister will, in terms of the National Disaster Management Act, leave in place minimal and confined regulations dealing with post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation as defined in the Act, whilst the remaining regulations will be repealed.
These minimal and confined regulations left in place will only be in place for 30 days from 5 April 2022, thereafter they will automatically lapse. While the ambit of these provisions to remain in place will be informed by a consideration of the public comments received, it is envisaged that they will likely include the provisions relating to mask wearing (parts of the current Regulation 67), the regulations relating to gatherings (parts of the current Regulation 69), Regulation 75 dealing with travellers and South Africa’s borders, the no fault compensation scheme and the payment of the social grant of R 350.
The reason for the limited comment period is to ensure that government can end the state of disaster as soon as possible, while responsibly putting in place regulations relating to post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation as defined in the Act.
Following an assessment of public comments the President will announce the withdrawal of the National State of Disaster. However, it is imperative that the withdrawal is managed responsibly to avert a compromise of existing pandemic management tools.
Citizens are invited to make written representations regarding the proposed amendments.
Representations or comments may be submitted online using the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/tMMP6WLEf2
Comments can also be emailed to: Regulations@cogta.gov.za
The regulations are available on this link: https://bit.ly/3JRUsm5
The Minister wishes to reiterate that these measures are specifically to cater for post-disaster recovery and the rehabilitation period to mitigate risks and to efforts, while dealing with some of the effects of the disaster and reducing the risk of a similar disaster occurring.
Government continues to call for everyone to get vaccinated, and encouraged those who have not yet vaccinated to take advantage of the vaccines still being offered for free throughout the country.
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