Cape Town – Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen has reportedly called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to end the curfew before January 1.
This comes as #NoCurfewOnNewYearsEve trended on Twitter recently, with hundreds calling on Ramaphosa to end the curfew.
South Africa is currently under adjusted alert level 1, which has among other regulations, a curfew that starts from 00:00 to 04:00.
According to EWN, Steenhuisen said his party never supported this part of the restrictions.
He said the real crisis faced by the country right now was the state of the economy and widespread suffering from loss of livelihoods.
ALSO READ | ‘#NoCurfewOnNewYearsEve’ tops Twitter trends list as South Africans protest lockdown
“Now more than ever we believe it should be lifted once and for all and before New Year’s eve. Ending the curfew is an easy and logical way to boost the economy particularly the restaurants and events industry which are major employers and have taken huge strain and made sacrifices during the pandemic,” the report quoted Steenhuisen as saying.
He added that people should be able to legally come together with friends and family to celebrate the start of 2022 and the end of an incredibly tough 2021, a report by IOL said.
Meanwhile, the Hospitality Leadership group, a nationwide interest group for the hospitality industry, has started a petition also urging the president to end the curfew, News24 reported.
The group said the curfew “infringes on [the] basic rights enshrined in the Constitution”, and the government’s response to Covid-19 has led to “enormous economic devastation”.
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