750 Plus days and we as a country are out of the State of Disaster, with the legislation of the Disaster Manger Act finally ceasing to be the guide of how we live our lives.
However, the next 30 days are crucial as the proposed regulations may find a home in the Health Act published in Government Gazette no 46048 of 15 March 2022 and the Disaster Management Amendment Regulations dated and published on the 29th of March 2022 (Act No.57 of 2002) by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
SAACI’s application submitted to reconsider this proposal has been made as the sooner we have certainty, the sooner we can plan for our sectors recovery, which is vital to our livelihoods. We hope that our industry will receive certainty soon as hosting big events under the current restrictions of 50% mean that many of the international events we would host in South Africa, would simply not be viable.
It is not sustainable in the short term, and it will not build the expected recovery growth.
For any medium- to long-term planning to take place and events business to be secured, we need certainty.
Our positioning of South Africa as a leading meetings, incentives, conferencing, and events destination is at high risk should the regulations become enacted.
We cannot allow the regulations to become law as part of any national act, as this will keep our recovery constrained and it also places the unwarranted vaccine mandate on our sector.
This is unfair from government, who missed an opportunity to work with the Business Events Industry late last year to push and encourage vaccination uptake.
We cannot be used by government as a means to an end when it comes to vaccination.
We call on members to submit your concerns that can be added to industry wide member-based submission to members@saaci.org or ceo@members.org
Full Newsletter: The Business Events Industry is NOT governments’ scapegoat
