The Cabinet on Friday said it has “approved the final extension of the National State of Disaster to 15 March 2022”.
The National State of Disaster was imposed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and it also empowers the government to limit certain rights through, for example, imposing a curfew.
During his state of the nation address Thursday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government was looking at ways of ending the National State of Disaster.
He said before that happens, some measures need to be finalised to contain the pandemic.
Earlier this week, the opposition Democratic Alliance held its own “True State of the Nation Address” in Cape Town in which it called on Ramaphosa to “abolish the National State of Disaster immediately” to allow the economy to fully recover.
However, on Friday Cabinet said, “after noting that some of the key departments dealing with Covid-19 had not yet concluded their analysis, Cabinet approved the final extension of the National State of Disaster to 15 March 2022.”
