The Swaziland (eSwatini)
Government announced that all
non-essential businesses in the kingdom should close down from Friday (3 April
2020) as measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic are stepped up.
Manqoba Khumalo, Minister for Commerce,
Industry and Trade, announced, ‘All businesses and entities that are
not involved in the manufacturing, supply or provision of essential goods or
services shall, cease to operate for the duration of the partial lockdown.’
Regulations
published after the lockdown was announced only covered the closure of
bars, and restaurants but said nothing about other shops.
Only ‘essential services’
will be allowed to operate.
Khumalo issued a long list
of those businesses that would be allowed to continue. They are:
1. Food and Agriculture; which includes:
Those involved in the food
value chain
2. Retail and consumer goods suppliers, which
include:
Consumer Goods suppliers
Food Retailers e.g. food
outlets, raw material suppliers and farmers
Those involved in the
transportation, logistics and packaging of consumer goods
Other Retail Goods that
support the medical industry e.g. bedding, linen and emergency clothing for
hospitals, health workers and those caring for the sick
3. Network
Infrastructure; which
include:
Water, waste water and
sanitation
Electricity suppliers
Renewable Energy suppliers
Gas suppliers
Fuel suppliers
Law enforcement
Defence, Safety and
Security
Waste disposal
Fire and Emergency services
Mining and power stations
4. Medical and
Health; which include:
Hospitals
Devices and Equipment
Pharmaceuticals
Funders
Doctors, nurses, paramedics
etc.
5. Forestry and
Sawmills
For the production of
disposable, health and hygiene products including toilet paper as well as for
packaging for food and the health supply chain.
6. IT Systems
and Telecommunications
7. Finance and
Insurance
8. Tourism and
Hospitality
9.
Communications e.g. Media
10. Hardware
Shops
11. Public Transport and cross-border trade transport
11. Public Transport and cross-border trade transport
These
will operate under the guidelines that Government has issued.
For
cross-border transport, this will be restricted to essential services as
defined in Eswatini, South Africa and Mozambique
There had been a lot of confusion in Swaziland about which businesses had been allowed to stay open during what is being described by the Swazi Government as a ‘partial lockdown’.
There had been a lot of confusion in Swaziland about which businesses had been allowed to stay open during what is being described by the Swazi Government as a ‘partial lockdown’.
Businesses in Manzini, the main
commercial city in Swaziland, claimed police and soldiers were demanding bribes
to allow them to stay open.
Manzini was reportedly in chaos on Monday after new regulations
restricting public transport to early mornings and late afternoons came into
force. The eSwatini Observer reported 5,000 people were
left stranded.
See also
King puts Swaziland into partial lockdown in bid to
beat coronavirus. Army and police on standby
Swaziland
King declares state of emergency over coronavirus. Schools closed, foreign
travel suspended
More
than 40 arrested in Swaziland for defying coronavirus lockdown during first
weekend
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