TAVERNS and nightclubs have become hotbeds of the coronavirus outbreak.
This was what Professor Salim Karim, head of the health ministry’s committee on the pandemic, had to say during a radio interview yesterday.
“It makes it almost inevitable that we’ll have a second wave,” he said.
Karim said people had become tired of following regulations and just wanted their lives to get back to normal.
He revealed that over the weekend he went to the beach and found thousands of people not wearing masks.
“People are just tired and don’t want to follow the rules anymore. Behaviour change is very difficult,” he said.
However, tavern owners hit back and blamed funerals and churches for the spread of the virus.
Josiah Kekana, owner of KK Tavern in Tembisa in Ekurhuleni, said he dealt with misbehaving customers.
“Not all taverns and shebeens are bad,” said Josiah.
“Funerals and churches are always crowded. We suffered a lot during the alcohol ban and are still recovering.
“This shouldn’t be another strategy to stop us from trading.”
Another tavern owner from Soweto said they’d been targeted since the beginning of the outbreak.
“People are having parties and attending funerals in large numbers.
“Tavern owners are simply made scapegoats for government failures.”
A third tavern owner, also from Soweto, said they needed to employ more staff to control patrons but couldn’t afford it.
“But taverns aren’t the only cause of the spread. People hardly wear masks in public,” she said.
