The Restaurant Association of South Africa (RASA) has come out in a sharp attack against President Ramaphose this afternoon, in anticipation of the President extending the current Level 4 Lockdown, in a speech which is expected this weekend.In its long media statement RASA calls on the Government to urgently allow restaurants to operate again. It supports this by stating that more than 1000 restaurants have closed down permanently since March last year, and more are expected during this current Level 4 Lockdown.
The owners and staff of Restaurants, Coffee shops, and Bars, and related suppliers, will be heading out to the streets twice this week, to protest to the Government and raise awareness about the poor treatment the Restaurant Industry, Tourism Industry, and Hospitality Trade is experiencing, the Curfew and ban on alcohol sales announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 12 July being the final straw for an industry that has been most discriminated against during Lockdown in our country. 
Last night President Ramaphosa announced that the whole country will move down, or is it up, to Level 3 on 1 June 2020, one of the announced changes being that Restaurants may still not open for sit-down meals, but they may offer not only a Delivery Service, but a Food Collection Service from 1 June onwards too. The Restaurant Association of South Africa (RASA) had lobbied Government for this concession, and has expressed its gratitude for it being granted on behalf of the restaurant industry. 
Since the world went into Lockdown, restaurants that were allowed to offer Take-Away food delivery to customer homes have increasingly used Third Party Delivery companies. Uber Eats probably is the world’s largest Food Delivery Company, having added this service a few years ago to its standard driver service. In our country it competes alongside MrD, a company belonging to TakeaLot, masters in e-commerce home delivery. Yet, during Lockdown the tide is turning, one reading an increasing number of warnings against third party delivery services, restaurant patrons being encouraged to order food from restaurants which use their own staff to deliver, locally and internationally. What has caused this negative sentiment!