Lockdown | Cabinet not ready yet with recovery plan

Cabinet says it needs more time to finalise a solid economic recovery plan for South Africa as the extended lockdown threatens to plunge an already ailing the economy deeper into recession.

After a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 15 April, government was expected to shed some light on what relief measures will be added to initiatives that have already been announced by the state for the initial 21-day lockdown, and confirm whether any sectors, apart from essential services, would return to trading.

But the Cabinet released a statement on Wednesday night saying that after listening to presentations from the different clusters, including the economic and investment sectors, it needs more time to consult and discuss proposals.

"Cabinet resolved that further discussions and consultations are still required before the final consolidated plan is approved to be shared with the nation. All the Cabinet clusters have been asked to work together to produce one consolidated document on key priorities of the country’s economic recovery plan, to be completed before the next Cabinet Meeting scheduled to take place on Monday, 20 April 2020," said Cabinet in a statement.

It also said that the Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has been directed to prepare a report on South African Airways so that Cabinet will discuss the state of the airline in its upcoming meeting.

On Tuesday, SAA's joint business rescue practitioners received a letter from the Department of Public Enterprises, turning down the airline's R10 billion funding request. The department also stated that government will also not provide any further guarantees to SAA to facilitate borrowing.

Compiled by Londiwe Buthelezi