South Africans Baffled By New Clothing Rules In Battle Against Coronavirus

Shops in South Africa can only sell shoes if they are ‘closed-toe’ and short-sleeved shirts if they are advertised to be worn under a jacket, according to the latest government rules on the coronavirus pandemic.

The new guidance, published on Tuesday, has caused confusion as many South Africans struggle to understand their purpose to prevent the spread of coronavirus in a report by Daily Mail.

The party’s shadow trade and industry minister, Dean Macpherson, in an emailed statement as reported by The Daily Mail said:

These new clothing regulations are frankly mad and seem more at place during the 1980s under the Soviet Union than they do in a democracy like South Africa. There is simply no justification for the minister to be determining what clothes people can buy and worse, how they should wear them.

The list includes T-shirts, but only if they’re used as ‘undergarments for warmth,’ and ‘crop bottoms worn with boots or leggings,’ according to the Government Gazette.

South Africa has recorded 12,074 confirmed coronavirus cases and 219 fatalities, according to the department of health’s online coronavirus portal.

The new clothing regulations come after President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted mistakes were made by the government during the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday evening in a televised address.

South Africa has come under criticism for a ‘lack of transparency’ on decisions made during the country’s seven-week lockdown.

Ramaphosa addressed these concerns in his address and vowed to make amends and correct mistakes made by the government.

He said:

We must acknowledge that as we have confronted this unprecedented challenge, there may have been times when we have fallen short of your expectations. Some of the actions we have taken have been unclear, some have been contradictory and some have been poorly explained and some have evoked a lot of anger and opposition in many of you.

The country went into a strict lockdown on March 26, banning the sale of most goods, apart from groceries and medical supplies.