Protesting gym members pumped up for a restart
Many gyms fear closing permanently if their business cannot reopen
Fitness enthusiasts and gym employees donned their workout kits on Wednesday and embarked on a nationwide lunchtime protest, demanding the government allows gyms to reopen.
Managers at gyms in and around East London said they had suffered devastating losses since the national lockdown from March 27.
Some managers said that to keep hope alive of opening in the future they’d had to stop paying staff for five months. Employees were suffering.
The protest was organised by FitSA, an association of SA health and fitness clubs.
Gym members and employees were asked to hold peaceful demonstrations outside their premises and to wear black and white gym kit.
The industry employs about 29,000 people at about 1,096 gyms.
It is expected that about 80% of gyms will have to close permanently, with huge job losses, should they be forced to remain closed.
Mveliso Tapi, of Mdantsane Fitness Gym, said the enforced closure had negatively affected his business.
Though it was registered with the Unemployed Insurance Fund (UIF), applying for relief had been complicated, with fund officials demanding documentation he did not have.
Tapi employs 10 people as gym instructors, security guards and cleaning staff, none of whom has been paid since lockdown.
“Opening the gym was part of creating jobs but the situation right now shows there is a big chance that employees could lose their jobs.
“We are suffering. It is not funny. We have families to feed.
“The women are breadwinners and they feed their families with the money they get from here and they have not been getting anything for months.
“The government must allow us to open and we will stick to the regulations.
“I am ready and have the PPE in place to make sure that people coming here are safe.
“Closing has affected me personally because I used money from my pocket to open this gym.
“It saddens me every day to see my employees suffering,” Tapi told the Dispatch.
One of his employees, Yonela Velapi, 32, said she had had no income since March.
“It is difficult and painful without an income.
“My family is supporting me in the meantime.
“As much as it is understandable that people need to be safe, we will take precautionary measures to ensure we adhere to the regulations,” Velapi said.
Fitness fanatic Mtobeli Rasmeni said he had not been training properly for five months, which was having a negative effect on his wellbeing.
“I don’t have the right equipment to train [at home] and jogging on the road and training in my backyard is not helpful at all.
“The government must allow gyms to open with strict restrictions,” he said.
“I am sure gym owners and us will not have a problem training for an hour and letting others join afterwards.
“Everyone else opened but not gyms, how is that fair?”
FitSA spokesperson Grant Austin said the lockdown was having a severe effect on the fitness industry because some gyms opted to stop debiting clients immediately after lockdown and temporarily laid off staff.
Virgin Active announced in July that it would cut salaries of its 3,000 staff members by 75%.