On Tuesday, the government announced that President Cyril Rampahosa will be addressing the nation tonight, 22 March 2022, at 20:00.
It is expected that the president will be discussing the outline on how the country will further be managing the Covid-19 pandemic once the national state of disaster is lifted.
The national state of disaster is expected to officially be lifted on April 15 – two years after it was first implemented in March 2020.
The government has been feeling the pressure coming from various societal sectors to lift the national state of disaster. And in the meantime, certain regulations have been proposed to be put in place instead of the state of disaster.
Ramaphosa has been having meetings with leaders from thises sectors in hopes to narrow the new rules down so that everyone is happy. And at the same time, it is the president’s duty to ensure that South Africa won’t get hit with another big wave as soon as the state of disaster is lifted.
And last week Ramaphosa reassured MP’s during a National Assembly sitting that he would honour his commitment:
“I am not going to be reckless. I am going to be orderly and in days I am going to address the nation and explain precisely where we are headed and how we should traverse this new route we are going on,” he said.