Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has announced that the government has extended the National State of Disaster by a further month.
The current state of disaster was set to expire on Wednesday. In a statement on Tuesday, Dlamini-Zuma announced that the National State of Disaster will expire on 15 April.
She said the decision was taken so that government and organs of state had enough time to continue augmenting the existing legislation and contingency arrangements to ensure that new legislation was in place for the continued management of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic after the termination of the state of disaster.
Dlamini-Zuma’s announcement comes after a meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council on Monday. NCCC members’ deliberations on alternative regulations is understood to have been inconclusive.
The latest extension comes despite increasing calls from health experts, opposition parties and business associations to scrap the disaster regulations. This decision by the government has been met with sharp criticism by health experts and political opposition.
