{"id":214857,"date":"2021-12-28T11:17:13","date_gmt":"2021-12-28T09:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/?p=214857"},"modified":"2021-12-30T21:27:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T19:27:01","slug":"hospitality-industry-calls-for-end-to-curfew-to-allow-for-midnight-new-years-eve-celebrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/hospitality-industry-calls-for-end-to-curfew-to-allow-for-midnight-new-years-eve-celebrations\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospitality industry calls for end to Curfew, to allow for midnight New Years Eve celebrations!"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"A group of Hospitality entrepreneurs has called on the government to lift the Curfew, to allow South Africans to celebrate New Years Eve at midnight and later. The call for the end to the Curfew is supported by the Leader of the DA John Steenhuisen, according to News24<\/b>.<\/p>\n

The Hospitality Leadership What\u2019s App Group has issued a petition, \u00a0and received more than 500 signatures to date. \u00a0Hospitality leaders Randolf Jorberg of Beerhouse, David Donde of Truth Coffee Roasting, and Ebrahim Asmal of SIX in Johannesburg have initiated the petition.<\/p>\n

The petition wording is as follows:<\/p>\n

\u2018Dear Mr. President,<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

#NoCurfewOnNewYearsEve South Africans deserve to be free to celebrate NYE 2021 with their friends and families instead of having to be locked into their homes for 1\/6th of every day, from midnight – 4 am!\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

For the last 21 months, we\u2019ve been living with a curfew that has not shown to have any effect on the transmission of the Covid-19 virus that is not known to keep working hours.<\/i><\/p>\n

Instead, it has introduced an element against our very democracy that infringes on our basic rights enshrined in the constitution. It goes against the very ethos of what the majority of South Africans fought for over the decades.<\/i><\/p>\n

We have gone through the 4th, Omicron wave, with remarkably low hospital admission-numbers and there is therefore no justification for limiting these rights.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\n

Ironically South Africa has seen enormous economic devastation from Covid-induced lockdowns and seen blows to our reputation from intense travel bans and international isolation due to two variants discovered by our scientists. We decided to follow an agenda prescribed by the West which had not accounted for the dynamics particular to our country and continent in general.<\/i><\/p>\n

We should be sending a message to the world that South Africa is very much open for business and visitors. We need at this stage not just a passive signal, but an active one. Ending the curfew is the message we so desperately need and NYE is the perfect time to do so.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The curfew is impossible to justify in terms of the science of preventing the spread of the Virus. It is useful in terms of messaging a public in the urgent need to change behavior. We argue that the utility of this has passed. It is time to bring our citizenry back to normality, that is the new message required.<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

The curfew is beginning to have the taste of a police state at this point. It is only serving to keep the law abiding at home. It may have some benefits in terms of crime reduction and trauma reduction, but these benefits stand against basic freedom, our constitution, and are impossible to justify in a free society.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Celebrating New Years Eve 2021 under curfew rule would invite unequal use of power by the police. The pictures of random arrests as regular citizens celebrate outside their homes, should ring all your alarm bells and would send the opposite message our tourism industry now needs.<\/i><\/p>\n

We urge you Mr President to do the right thing, the brave thing and lift the curfew now and help rescue our economy and bring back civil liberties in 2022!<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

About us<\/span>: this petition originated from the Hospitality Leadership group, a nationwide interest group for the hospitality industry.<\/i><\/p>\n

Randolf Jorberg,\u00a0Beerhouse<\/a>, Cape Town
\nEbrahim Asmal,\u00a0SIX Melville<\/a>, Johannesburg
\nDavid Donde,\u00a0Truth Coffee Roasting<\/a>, Cape Town\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n

To sign the Curfew, go to www.change.org\/endtheSAcurfew<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whaletalesblog.com www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide\/Mein Kapstadt Guide\u00a0Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n