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CO-OPERATIVE governance and traditional affairs minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has extended the country’s national state of disaster by another month.
Dlamini-Zuma signed an extension, published in the government gazette on Friday, until February 2022 as the country remains under adjusted level 1 of the national lockdown.
March will mark two years since SA was first put into a state of national disaster when the first positive Covid-19 case was detected in KwaZulu-Natal.
In a second government gazette published on Friday, basic education minister Angie Motshekga announced that spectators would be allowed to attend school sports events.
“Spectators at the venue of a sport event are permitted and the number of people permitted at a venue at any time is limited to the number as prescribed under the regulations in respect of gatherings for the particular adjusted alert level at the time.”
Under level 1 regulations, gatherings are restricted to no more than 1,000 people indoors and no more than 2,000 people outdoors.
“If a venue is too small to hold the prescribed number of people, observing a distance of at least 1.5m from each other, then not more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used, subject to strict adherence to all health protocols and social distancing measures,” the amendment to the regulations read.
She said, “Parents were quite at pains that when there are sporting activities, they drop their kids they can’t really be spectators or only one parent is allowed so again we’ve had to look at that to allow parents to be part of their children’s development growth and also be able to be spectators in the sporting activities which are permissible”.
Minister Motshekga explained that the regulations that will govern attendance at school sport and cultural events fall below the general rules for attendance at gatherings
The last regulations around the attendance of spectators at events were published in December 2021.
Here are the rules regarding the attendance of sporting events.
Indoor sports venues can have a maximum of 750 people in attendance;Outdoor sports venues can have a maximum of 2,000 people in attendance;If a venue is too small to accommodate these maximum limits, the limit is at 50% of that venue’s capacity.
Every person attending a venue where a sport or cultural activity is taking place must…
Every person, when attending a gathering and in order to limit exposure to COVID-19 must-
(a) wear a face mask;
(b) adhere to all health protocols;
(c) maintain a distance of at least one and a half metres from each other;
An owner or operator of a sporting facility or an organiser of a sporting event must ensure compliance with the limitation on the number of persons attending such a gathering contemplated in sub regulation (10)(b).
If the owner of a sporting felicity or the organiser of the event does not comply with the regulations and are found to have committed an offense, they may be liable for a fine or a prison sentence not exceeding six months.
If an enforcement office, who is in charge of monitoring Covid-19 compliance at an event, see’s non-compliance he or she may order people to disperse from the venue.
If the person refuses, they can be fined or jailed.