GEORGE NEWS - The closing of restaurants to avoid Covid-19 transmission is completely unnecessary, says Dean Hahn, co-owner of seven restaurants in George.
Only four of their restaurants can remain partially open for takeaway and delivery meals for the next two weeks.
At the other three it will not be viable to offer these limited services that were abruptly forced upon the restaurant industry after President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement on Sunday of adjusted alert level 4 restrictions. Liquor sales are also banned for two weeks from Monday 28 June.
'Staff safer at work than at home'
Hahn said their restaurants achieved only about 40% of their usual turnover when they were subjected to the same restrictions in the previous level 4 lockdown.
"The staff and whole value chain are going to suffer and it is completely unnecessary. In the past year we had only 16 cases among our 200 staff members but there was never a single transmission at work. They were all infected outside the restaurant and were all single cases.
"Our staff are safer at work than they are at home. We clean and sanitise as we go. Staff work in different sections so that they are not in close contact with each other.
"I believe that people who have a high risk, who have comorbidities, should isolate and keep safe while the younger and healthy population keeps the economy going."
Wendy Alberts, spokesperson for the Restaurants Association of South Africa (Rasa), called the lockdown "inhumane" as there was no consultation with the industry. "It was overnight notice. Staff are immediately put on unpaid leave. There is despair and emotional trauma from constant fear."
She said there will be a huge ripple effect on add-on service providers such as performers, printers, bakers and suppliers of fresh products. She has written to Ramaphosa with the hope of consultation to get the industry open.
"We have strict protocols in place, more than anybody else, yet we get closed down. People flock to supermarkets and other shops, why must we suffer where there is much more control?"
David Maynier, Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, said on Monday that UIF Covid-19 Ters (Temporary Employer / Employee Relief Scheme) urgently needs to be reinstated to support businesses. He has written to the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, to request that he re-open the Ters scheme for the duration of the level 4 restrictions.
He said businesses in the hospitality and liquor sectors have already been hit hard with significant job losses during the pandemic.
"Wine farms, restaurants and coffee shops cannot survive on takeaways alone. Two weeks of no income for these businesses, as well as cinemas, gyms, casinos, conferencing venues and theatres, will have a direct and sudden impact on people's livelihoods, their ability to pay salaries, rent and buy food."
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said in a statement this week that they are calling for the amendment of the regulations to allow wine and liquor to be sold online and delivered to consumers' homes via transport and courier services, and the transport of wine samples, the transport of wine by tourists, and the transport of wine to bottling plants and storage.
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