Steenhuisen joins calls for no curfew on New Year’s Eve

As Mzansi gears up to celebrate the crossover to a new year this weekend, the DA has joined calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to scrap the Covid-19 curfew.

SA is on lockdown alert level 1, which means the curfew is from midnight to 4am. No more than 750 people may gather indoors and no more than 2,000 people may gather outdoors.

There were calls on social media last week for Ramaphosa to ease the restrictions, to allow churchgoers to attend special overnight prayer services.

DA leader John Steenhuisen added his voice to the calls, saying it should be lifted before the end of the year.

“The DA has never supported the curfew, as we have never found it to be a rational or justifiable denial of freedom. But now more than ever, we believe it should be lifted once and for all, and before New Year’s Eve.

“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.”

He said hospitalisation rates are low, the Omicron variant is milder than past variants and vaccines seem to be working, so it is time to try rescue the economy.

“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,” he added.