John Steenhuisen questions 'bizarre' level 3 regulations - 'you can gather, but no haircut, or cigarettes?'

DA leader John Steenhuisen says the new lockdown regulations, which allow people to gather in religious settings while going to salons, beaches and smoking cigarettes continue to be prohibited, are “bizarre”. 

The national coronavirus command council (NCCC) on Thursday announced new regulations which would apply to the eased lockdown on June 1.

Earlier in the week, president Cyril Ramaphosa said churches would reopen from next week, though under strict conditions which include that congregants must wear masks, social distancing must be observed and that only a limited number of people may gather at a time.

Co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said there were ongoing discussions between the government and the beauty industry to find safer ways in which they could trade.

Steenhuisen questioned the new regulations, saying it was 'bizarre” that regulations on gatherings had been amended while others had not.

“So you can gather in a confined space with 49 other people but you cannot have your haircut, go to the beach, or go to a park or smoke a cigarette? Bizarre ..." he wrote on social media.

His comments drew mixed reaction from users, with many slamming the regulations and urging the official opposition to fight the changes.

The party issued a statement on Thursday slamming the regulations and labelling them “irrational”, saying they “lack scientific basis”.

“The release of government’s Level 3 regulations today by minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma confirms our view that our government is no longer focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, their focus has shifted to undermining the hard-fought freedoms of all South Africans," DA shadow minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs, Haniff Hoosen, wrote in the statement.