South Africa: Government faces backlash over sandal sale ban

South Africa’s government is experiencing significant backlash over new lockdown regulations which dictate which clothes can and cannot be sold in shops. 

The new regulations are particularly detailed, with shoes allowed to be sold, provided they are not opened-toed e.g. sandals. 

T shirts are also allowed to be sold, but only if they are advertised and sold as undergarments.

Opposition leaders have compared the rules to a soviet-style bureaucracy.

“Quite frankly ridiculous and mad. More likely these sorts of rules found in the Soviet Union and East Germany,” said Dean MacPherson of the Democratic Alliance (DA) party. 

However, the government has insisted there is a logic to the new rules: South Africa is about to enter its winter season, so the government is only easing lockdown restrictions for the sale of winter clothes.

South Africa has imposed some of the strictest lockdown rules in the world, including an ongoing ban on the sale of alcohol and cigarettes.

The governing African National Congress (ANC) party is now under increasing pressure to relax the restrictions, despite warnings that infections will only peak in about two to three months. 

Photo: Getty Images