In a statement issued late on Sunday after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the country was shifting to less stringent 'level 3' lockdown measures from next month, Sakeliga said the government was intent on a protracted phasing out of the restrictions over what appeared to be at least several months. 

In a national address broadcast live on television, Ramaphosa said from June 1 some eight million people would be allowed to return to work, including most civil servants, while a night-time curfew would be lifted. South Africa's national borders would however remain closed, apart from the transport of goods and the repatriation of citizens.

Ramaphosa said the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country had risen to 22,583, out of which about 11,000 were still "active". Of these patients, 842 were in hospital, 128 of them in intensive care. He said 429 people had died from the virus, while about half of the total number of confirmed cases had recovered.

Sakeliga chief executive Piet le Roux said some of the president's announcements were a move in the right direction, but had come too late, despite frequent recommendations from economists and chambers of commerce.

"To welcome the announcements made by President Ramaphosa tonight as if they go far enough, as if we have not learnt how easily positions are reversed, and as if what remains is not arbitrary, onerous, and harmful would be to put relief before resolve," le Roux said.

South Africa's economy has taken a heavy knock from the lockdown which has been in place since March 27 and grounded all activity except for essential services such as health care workers and security forces in its initial phase. Gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract by more than six percent in 2020.

"Just the next week of level 4 regulations probably shaves another percentage point off GDP this year," le Roux warned.

He said Sakeliga would pursue its court case, set down for hearing on Tuesday, in support of freedom to do business, protection against obstruction by law enforcement, and of the separation of powers between national, provincial and local government.

Le Roux said restrictions that would remain in place under "level 3" rules from June 1, such as the continued ban on cigarette sales, "amounts to a form of house arrest".

"The unnecessary decimation of industries such as hospitality, hair-dressing and other personal services, and others remain," he added.

African News Agency