New Year’s Eve: Curfew Lifted and New Lockdown Rules, How To Celebrate Legally

• The office of President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the curfew has been lifted and new lockdown rules have been gazetted
• Many different people and groups have urged Ramaphosa to lift the curfew before New Year's Eve
• Their wish has come true despite previous announcements by Bheki Cele that the curfew will be enforced on New Year's Eve

JOHANNESBURG - Yesterday (30 December) the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the curfew has been lifted and new lockdown restrictions have been put in place.

In recent weeks, many different people and groups have urged Ramaphosa to lift the curfew before New Year's Eve as they do not believe that it is serving its intended purpose of curbing the spread of Covid-19.

Bheki Cele, the minister of police, made several public announcements stating that the curfew would be enforced on New Year's Eve to ensure public safety and obedience to Covid-19 protocols.

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"Sorry, Minister of Alcohol": South Africans worried about Bheki Cele now that he can't enforce curfew any more

What are the new lockdown restrictions?

The newly gazetted restrictions state that no more than 1 000 people may attend an indoor gathering and alcohol sale restrictions have been lifted. This set of relaxed restrictions will allow people to celebrate New Year's Eve in line with how they did before the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, people will not be allowed to drink alcohol in a public park or on a beach after 12 pm, Business Insider reports. People may be at these places at any time, as the curfew is no longer in effect.

According to IOL, venues that are too small to host 1 000 people may not exceed 50% of their total capacity. These capacity restrictions apply not only to function venues, but also gyms, churches, and stadiums. Social distancing rules and mask mandates are still in place.

Read also

Bheki Cele resolute to enforce curfew on New Year's Eve amid calls for Ramaphosa to end the restriction

Reactions to the new lockdown restrictions

@ben12906 believes:

"Pretty selfish to announce the day before when the events industry which has suffered enough could’ve had New Year's parties but now it’s too late to organise."

@buffalosouljah1 said:

@ALETTAHA shared:

"Thanks, @Our_DA for fighting so hard to get this curfew dropped."

@Syzaas asked:

@Brettbenraphael joked:

"An agreement was reached with Covid to sleep between 12am and 4am."

Peeps worried about Bheki Cele now that he can't enforce curfew any more

In other news about curfew, earlier Briefly News reported that South Africans are now in a jovial mood following the announcement that the South African government has taken heed of the calls to end curfew restrictions ahead of New Year's Eve.

While many headed to social media to celebrate the amazing news and the return of some sense of normalcy, others wonder how Police Minister Bheki Cele is doing because he cannot enforce strict curfew rules as he promised.

Earlier in the week, Cele stated that South Africans needed to abide by the curfew rules and that the South African Police Service would be on high alert on New Year's Eve.

Source: Briefly News