Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane has welcomed the country’s move to level 2 of lockdown, highlighting the province’s measures to deal with the eased restrictions.
On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Cabinet’s decision to move to level 2 of lockdown by easing restrictions to reignite the economy and return operations for a number of sectors.
In a bid to continue the fight against the Coronavirus, Mabuyane said his province is looking into implementing ward command councils to bring stakeholders together to collectively fight the virus.
“We are actually adopting a bottom-up approach where we are actually talking about ward command councils or a councillor being at the centre, traditional leaders, religious community and all of us mobilised together to ensure that we fight this,” he said.
The Eastern Cape accounts for 84 092 of the total confirmed cases with 2 567 deaths and 79 947 recoveries.
With schools set to open next week, the Eastern Cape Premier said the province’s schools are ready to welcome back learners with the exception of a few glitches.
“The education sector for instance is expected to receive learners on the 24th and the 31st of August, school support teams and school management teams are collaborating to manage the pandemic at school sites.
“Water sanitation, personal protective equipment (PPE), nutrition and transport are in place for the return of our learners back to school, however there are still unresolved issues around a number of scholars to be transported with the Department of Education and the Department of Transport,” said Mabuyane.
EC treasury allocates R341 million for assistant teachers
According to the Premier, the provincial education department received 5 608 comorbidity applications from teachers. The department approved 2 230, while 589 applications have been declined. The remaining 2 763 are pending.
“The teachers whose comorbidity applications have been approved will work from home to assist the assistant teacher,” said Mabuyane.
Consultations are underway for the recruitment of assistant teachers for which the provincial treasury has allocated R341 million.
Drink responsibly and prevent second wave
With alcohol and tobacco making a return under level 2 of lockdown, the Premier urged consumers to be responsible in their consumption.
“We welcome the return of alcohol because a lot of people work in that sector. We do want this economy to return back to work but we need to work together with the industry. We have started working with the industry and we have met them on numerous occasions where we are discussing ways of having campaigns to promote responsible drinking.
“The onus is now on those people who uses these products to use them knowing fully well that we still have the virus in our midst which requires people to behave in a manner that assists us to prevent a second wave of infections,” said the Premier.
Mabuyane urged consumers to adhere to regulations and health protocols such as not sharing cigarettes or drinking from the same glass. – SAnews.gov.za
