@gcis
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on those South Africans who have not been vaccinated, to do so, while imploring countries to reverse the travel bans imposed on several Southern African countries.
Addressing the nation on Sunday night, Ramaphosa made the plea amid the global reaction to the news that a new variant of the Covid19 virus had been detected in several southern African countries, including South Africa.
The announcement of the new variant last week by the Health Minister, Dr Joe Paahla, led to widespread global travel bans imposed on South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, and Zimbabwe.
Ramaphosa also announced that a task team has been established to investigate the feasibility of making vaccination mandatory for “specific activities and locations.”
The task team will report to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Vaccination chaired by the Deputy President, which will make recommendations to Cabinet on a fair and sustainable approach to vaccine mandates.
"We realise that the introduction of such measures is a difficult and complex issue, but if we do not address this seriously and as a matter of urgency, we will continue to be vulnerable to new variants and will continue to suffer new waves of infection."
He said one of the tools available in the fight against the new variant is to avoid gatherings, particularly indoor gatherings.
"Mass gatherings such as major conferences and meetings, especially those that require a large number of people to be in close contact over extended periods, should be changed to virtual formats," Ramaphosa said.
He called on South Africans to avoid end-of-year parties and matric year-end raves as well as other celebrations, calling on every person to think twice before attending or organising a gathering.
Ramaphosa said the President’s Coordinating Council and Cabinet, decided to keep South Africa on Alert Level 1 and that the National State of Disaster should remain in place.
He said these measures would be reviewed in a week's time.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa lashed out at those countries who imposed travel bans on South Africa and other southern Africans, calling on them to “immediately, and urgently reverse their decisions” before any further damage is done to our economy.
“There is no scientific justification for keeping these restrictions in place,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic.
