MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

On the continued closure of specialised Yoga and Pilates studios

By

Dear MyPE

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is in the process of exploring legal advice on the continued closure of specialised yoga and Pilates studios under the risk-adjusted level 3 lockdown.

National Treasury projected that 50% of South Africans could lose their jobs during the pandemic, and instead of trying to stem the tide, the irrational sanctions and lack of directions from the ANC government on some sectors in the economy will simply ensure that those projections become set in stone.

Thousands of South Africans, mostly woman, earn a monthly income from specialised studios operating from their homes. The level 3 lockdown is not only criminalising the exercising of disciplines like Pilates, yoga and many other similar activities, but also bars woman to be entrepreneurs in their own right.

These woman-owned small businesses have been very hard hit by the lockdown, and a lot are on the brink of closure and bankruptcy. However, before lockdown they were sustainable small enterprises. Many owners and instructors are the sole breadwinner in the household, and face the very real risk of losing the only source of income for good.

It is very clear that these businesses are able to comply with sanitation protocols; have the ability to trace and track any client or employee who have come into contact with anyone infected by the virus; and are able to adopt social distancing measure between the participants of the activities. To visit the protocols click here.

It simply makes no sense that many small businesses are still in lockdown and cannot be economy active in a safe manner with proper Covid-19 hygiene protocols in place, when so many other industries are allowed to open during level 3 of the lockdown.

The lack of direction and commitment shown by the Minister of Small Business Development, the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture as well as the Minister of Health towards these specialised studios is callous and devastating.

The DA will not stand for this and we will do whatever it takes to ensure these business open up as soon as possible and for the Government to issue a directive in this regard.

Regards

Henro Kruger MP
DA Deputy Shadow Minister of Small Business Development

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This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.