Pharmacies, grocery stores, and funeral services, are the only businesses that can continue to trade during the 21-day lockdown. This was clarified by the Department of Trade and Industry on Tuesday.
Bars, restaurants and pizza joints had attempted to register as essential businesses on the government website. Now regulators are clearing up, and those businesses are being referred to the police for investigation.
The department on Tuesday said that companies that do not fall under the category of essential services had been attempting to apply on the state’s website to continue operating during the lockdown. Their conduct was seen as “either fraudulent or negligent”.
“The operation of any essential service is subject to full compliance with the applicable lockdown regulations and that the company falls within the scope of essential services as defined in the regulations.
In a number of cases, companies have applied and received Essential Service certificates without compliance with the regulated conditions,” the statement said.
“It is also a criminal offence for any business which misrepresents the nature of its operations in order to obtain a CIPC certificate,” the statement continued.
“The CIPC, upon review, has established that pubs, taverns, restaurants, fast food places, pizza parlours and the like have registered to continue operating during the lockdown, in violation of the applicable regulations as per the Essential Service list. These businesses are not eligible to continue operating during the lockdown period in terms of the regulations and directions issued by Government.
Businesses in the CIPC database that are not eligible to continue operations during the lockdown have had their certificates cancelled and will be handed over to the South African Police Services for further investigation and potential prosecution.
Any business which is not authorised to continue operating during the lockdown in terms of the applicable regulations and directions should cease operations with immediate effect. Businesses which require clarification as to whether they meet the definitions of an essential service business may address their queries to their relevant business association,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, President Cryril Ramaphosa made the comments in a weekly newsletter on the fourth day of a 21-day lockdown he has called to try and curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected 1 326 people in South Africa, with two losing their lives.
“It is important that this lockdown and all other emergency measures are both strictly adhered to and consistently enforced,” Ramaphosa said, noting this had been effective in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where Covid-19 was first detected last December.
“Wuhan, a city of 11 million people … had more than 50 000 infections. Now, after more than two months after stringent lockdown measures were put in place, the province has had fewer than 20 new cases in the past two weeks,” the president said.
