Western Cape Premier Alan Winde called for the extension of the National State of Disaster to come to an end as this is an extreme tool that cannot be used indefinitely, especially if the province is to rapidly grow the economy, create millions of jobs, and recover.
According to Winde, although he welcome the move to Alert Level 1 as an important first step required for economic recovery, he also remains concerned that no clear announcement was made by the President on when the National State of Disaster will end.
“There is no doubt that the move to Alert Level 1 will provide a welcome boost for our economy, especially our tourism and hospitality sector, but we must now look beyond this centralised approach and put in place the localised response systems that will enable our economy to recover quickly.
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Winde reiterated that the Western Cape government has a clear, 5-point-plan on what they believe must be done if they are to get the balance right in saving lives and jobs.
The plan includes an end to the National State of Disaster to grow the economy and create jobs, enable Provincial and Local Government Responses through an established traffic-light warning system, based on pre-determined measures of health platform capacity, including maintaining healthcare capacity by increasing budget allocations to Provincial Governments.
Winde further mentioned that as the province continues to move forward and reopen the economy, residents should play their part and get vaccinated.
“This weekend, we encourage you to make use of the Vooma vaccination drive and get vaccinated at a designated site. Doing so will ensure that we can protect ourselves and those around us, ensuring that we save lives and that we can safely reopen our economy,” Winde said.
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Picture: Cape {town Etc gallery