Johannesburg - Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma wants all banks and non-bank financial institutions to ensure that all their ATMs have hand sanitisers.
In amended Covid-19 regulations which came into effect on Thursday, Dlamini Zuma said banks and other financial institutions must take reasonable steps to ensure that the requirement for all ATMs to have hand sanitisers is implemented by third parties hosting ATMs through appropriate agreements.
“All banks as defined in the Banks Act 1990 and non-bank financial institutions as defined in the Financial Sector Regulation Act 2017 must ensure that all ATMs located at their branches and branches that bear the name of that bank or a non-bank financial institution have hand sanitisers for use by the public at each ATM,” read the regulations.
According to Dlamini Zuma, banks or non-bank financial institutions must also ensure that their customers queuing at ATMs on their premises and branches maintain a distance of 1.5m from each other.
The amended regulations also make it a criminal offence for anyone older than six years old not to wear a face mask in public.
”The wearing of a face mask is mandatory for every person when in an public place, excluding a child under the age of six, and any person who fails to comply with a verbal instruction by an enforcement officer to wear a face mask, commits an offence and is, on conviction, liable to a fine or a period of imprisonment not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment,” state the regulations.
On Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country was returning to adjusted alert level 3 due to rising Covid-19 cases.
A number of restrictions were tightened, including a night time curfew between 10pm and 4am, closing venues hosting religious, social, political and cultural gatherings, establishments such as restaurants, shebeens, taverns, bars, cinemas, theatres, casinos and gyms at 9pm, limiting the number of people attending funerals and cremations to 50 or 50% of the capacity if the venue is too small.
Political Bureau