Ebrahim Patel

Based on level-3 regulations leaked over the weekend ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Sunday evening that the whole of South Africa will move from level-4 to level-3 lockdown on 1 June, government has done a complete about-turn on how it will ease lockdown restrictions.

Not allowed

Original draft regulations for public comment were absurdly detailed, likely as a result of tons of “consultation” with the likes of minister of trade, industry competition Ebrahim Patel.

These completely arbitrary distinctions in the lockdown regulations reached their nadir in the spat over the sale of “hot, cooked food” (implemented after-the-fact with a one-line amendment) and Patel’s now-infamous Kafkaesque numbered list of what items of clothing are allowed to be sold under level 4.

So, then, to the list …

The only “specific economic exclusions” in the draft regulations for level 3 are restaurants, pubs and shebeens, travel for recreational purposes, and possibly certain personal care services (in what is a confusingly constructed regulation).

Compare these draft regulations to the original “framework for sectors” published for comment and it is clear that these are level 3 in name only; we’ve all but skipped right to level 2.