But what struck me most odd, was the gazetted “cropped bottoms with boots and leggings”… so I googled what this was, got dressed in the approved “Patel pants” and started my day.
South Africa (13 May 2020) – Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel has gazetted directions on the sale of winter clothing, footwear and bedding in Level 4 of the national COVID-19 lockdown.
The directions clarify the related winter clothing, footwear and home textiles which may be sold during Alert Level 4 in terms of the regulations published by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) on 29 April.
“The publication of these directions results from Minister Patel’s consultative meeting with industry leaders in the Clothing, Textile, Footwear and Leather sector held last Tuesday, 5 May 2020,” said the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (DTIC) on Tuesday.
Industry stakeholders had requested that Patel gazettes a list of clothing and related products that could be made available for sale in retail stores.
A task team of industry representatives and the department worked together to construct a list of essential winter clothing, footwear and home textiles that would be permissible for sale in retail stores across the country during Level 4 of the lockdown.
The list of winter clothing, footwear and home textiles includes:
- all baby and toddler clothing and footwear;
- children’s wear, including schoolwear and school shoes;
- maternity wear; adult sleepwear and gowns;
- adult underwear;
- a range of adult footwear categories, including boots, slippers, sneakers and trainers;
- adult outerwear categories, including activewear, knitwear, jackets and coats;
- adult accessories; and bedding categories, including baby bedding and blankets, duvets, blankets, and electric blankets.
But what struck me most odd, was the gazetted “cropped bottoms with boots and leggings”… so I googled what this was, got dressed in the approved “Patel pants” and started my day.
You can read my diary entry below:
Dear Diary,
It’s Wednesday the 13th of May 2020. It’s the 7th week of the lockdown and my 10th week of self-isolation, although it feels like the millionth.
I awoke this morning quite excited at the prospect of being able to joosh up my clothing attire ala lockdown rules 4.0. You see, I’ve become quite tired of wearing the same old COVID-19 attracting slops and shorts and couldn’t wait to get to my nearest clothing store to purchase a pair of comfy new slippers and closed-toes shoes that would guarantee my immunity towards the Corona Virus.
I was horrified to learn earlier this week that my habit of carelessly throwing on a T-shirt WITHOUT a jacket or my favourite knitwear has been against government regulations… something that I needed to rectify immediately!
So with my now skilled mask applicating technique, I dressed in my cropped ‘pant’ with my tekkies (changing these to my boots after I realised that I could get arrested for the tekkie-cropped-bottom combo) and headed out.
For extra health and safety precautions I had printed out the carefully considered list of items newly available for sale. I had a few heart palpitations before my arrival as one of the things on my shopping list was a new pair of pants, but the list does not specify whether these COVID repelling garments should be long or short! What should I do?
To avoid the R500 fine of buying ‘goods that are not permitted’ I opted to create a wide berth between myself and both the short and long ‘pant’ variety, carefully avoiding eye contact with the store security (with cloth mask covering his mouth only) who for some reason was beginning to step in my direction.
I quickly learned that I had mistakenly moved towards the unaccompanied T-shirt section that was NOT displayed as undergarments for warmth. With a quick apology to the nervous-looking security guard, I decided on a simple purchase of fluffy slippers and left it at that before heading home.
Reflecting on my morning’s outing, I realised just how lucky we are to have a government that has the most qualified fashion police on the planet to help us fight the scourge of this pandemic!
Fellow South Africans I call on you all to deny your short-sleeved T-shirts, replacing them with your favourite long-sleeved top and leggings and lets (warmly) stand together against virus attracting clothing!
by 