City lays down Covid-19 plan of action for facilities

Players itching to get back into action will have to continue waiting as club officials and federations prepare health and safety plans in line with the governments Covid-19 regulations.

Over the past few weeks, TableTalk has spoken to different sports administrators about their Covid-19 readiness
plans. 

In response to concerns regarding the return to sports activity,
the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral
committee member for community services and health, Dr Zahid
Badroodien, ensured everyone
involved that the City had things
under control. 
He reminded the public that
one of their responsibilities, as
the municipality, was to ensure
that everyone follows the Covid-19 protocols as published in the
National Regulations when using
its facilities. 
“Under Alert Level 3 Lockdown
Regulations, sport and recreation
facilities remain closed to members
of the public. Only formal sports as determined in the regulations will be
allowed to use the facilities, subject
to approval by the National Minister of Sports and Recreation. No
amateur or grassroots sports are
currently allowed,” he said. 
“The City will take all reasonable
measures to ensure that facility
users are made aware of health
guidelines and support the federations and formal sporting clubs
in ensuring that users observe the
following: health screening (which
must be done by the users/clubs);
patrons required to wear masks
as and when they access facilities;
limited use and bookings of facilities; social distancing and frequent
sanitisation.” 
New measures, he said, may be
introduced as and when deemed
necessary. 
“It must be noted that
the City relies on the users to
ensure compliance.” 
Dr Badroodien also made it
clear that the responsibility is on
the clubs and federations to apply
to the relevant authorities and
meet the national requirements. 
“They are also required to put
plans in place on how they will
mitigate the spread of Covid-19 by
preparing health and safety plans
prior to returning to training. Federations and clubs must,
therefore, familiarise themselves
and comply with the most current
regulations at all times. 
Safety plans will have to be
submitted to Recreation and Parks
management for review before
approval can be given for use of
the facility,” he said. 

Asked whether sports federations and club were made aware of
their responsibilities, Dr Badroodien said the City regularly engages
with the federations as part of
stakeholder engagement and all
efforts will be made to advise them
of national regulations through
existing forums. 

“Meetings with the federations
are taking place, and various
aspects of the impact of Covid-19
have been tabled for discussion.
It must be noted that no informal
gatherings are allowed under Alert
Level 3 lockdown regulations.” 

His department, he said, is busy
studying the latest directives relating to sport activities and may
develop operating procedures
based on the national directives as
and when required.