Level 4 lockdown, day one: Here’s everything that has changed on Friday

Friday 1 May is South Africa’s first day of Level 4 lockdown. Already, we’ve seen plenty of citizens take to beachfront promenades and stretch their legs. As we ease out of the hardest restrictions, things are going to change. Slowly, but surely, we are taking gradual steps in the right direction.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma played the pantomime villain on Wednesday. In an announcement dominated by a dramatic u-turn on the sale of cigarettes, some of the finer points perhaps got lost inside a cloud of smoke.

Level 4 lockdown: What has changed today?

In terms of what changed when we woke up this morning, there isn’t anything one could consider sweeping. But there are quite few alterations that show South Africa is ready to move its economy forward with Level 4:

What has changed	Level 5	Level 4
Items we can buy	Only food and medical essentials.	Books, office items, IT equipment, beauty products, winter clothes, and fabric added to ‘essentials’.
How we can travel	Absolutely no movements between provinces, towns or metros – non-essential travel banned.	Kids can now move between co-parents homes, one-off inter-provincial travel allowed for some, buses and trains will now run limited services.
Exercise	At home only.	You can now walk, jog or cycle between 6:00 – 9:00, but you can only go somewhere within 5km of home.
Restaurants	No trade allowed at all.	Restaurants, takeaway services can now deliver food. No sit-in options, can only deliver from 9:00 – 19:00.
Lockdown curfew	Didn’t have one in place.	To control movement, curfew has been implemented. People aren’t allowed outside between 20:00 – 5:00.
Essential workers	Only Medical professionals, shop workers and essential services staff can travel to work.	IT professionals, hardware stores, call centre teams, tradespeople, oil refineries & mines get the go-ahead.
Alcohol and cigarettes	All banned, in all forms.	The ban stays. But alcoholic goods, like Cape wines and distilled whiskey, can be exported and imported.
Plans for schools	A complete shutdown of all activity.	– Children won’t be back in class until 1 June – However, school admin staff ‘return next week’. – Universities remain closed for the duration of Level 4

Did somebody say curfew?

We’ve got more essential items on sale, and a larger cohort of workers can now return to business during Level 4. South Africans can celebrate the easing of these rules by ordering a takeaway for the first time since March, or treat themselves to some new winter clothing – selected retail items are now back on the shelves.

With the introduction of an exercise timetable, it feels like we’ve got some of our civil liberties back. But, surprisingly, the government have decided to implement the rule of curfew for nine hours every night, between 20:00 – 5:00. Progress, sometimes, isn’t a linear move forward.

Hold on! So does Level 4 (with curfew) mean no more popping out to the garage shop after 8pm to buy a Lunchbar and a Coke Zero? Not asking for a friend. This is going require planning. #level4lockdown

— Howard Feldman (@HowardFeldman) April 30, 2020