Desperate workers in fitness industry protest against their crisis situation
Gym owners and fitness workers took part in peaceful demonstration across South Africa on Wednesday to persuade the government to allow them to start working again to prevent their industry from being completely destroyed.
It’s an indisputable fact that, along with the restaurant-, liquor- and tobacco industries, the fitness industry in South Africa is the biggest losers of the past five months’ Covid-19 crisis.
Since the forced lockdown due to the Covid-19 crisis in South Africa began in the last week of March this year, all gyms have been closed and the effect of this situation has now, after more than four months, literally brought this industry to its knees.
According to research, some 13,000 jobs in the fitness industry have already been destroyed, while a further 5,000 workers could follow in August if gyms could not open immediately.
That was why the fitness industry, led by FitSA, the association of health and fitness clubs in the country, on Wednesday took part in a nationwide peaceful demonstration to bring their desperate situations to the attention of the government.
In Pretoria, staff and owners of various private gyms across the city also took part in the action.
After participants gathered at their respective gyms where photos and videos of their protest posters could be taken for social media purposes, they continued to display their posters to the public in vehicle parades through the streets of Pretoria as part of the campaign.
According to FitSA, the protest action was carefully planned to not violate any rules of the Level 3 lockdown.
FitSA has also stated that they are ready to continue operating within the lockdown rules.
“Two sets of studies show over 80% of people are enthusiastic about getting back to gyms and clubs around the country. However, South Africa’s fitness industry has been pinned down on the proverbial training mat for five months in a manoeuvre that has seen clubs – large and small, franchised and independent – immobilised and having to keep their doors temporarily closed at Level 3. August marks five months without gyms and that means five months without work for the fitness industry,” said FitSA in their statement.
According to the statement, the industry believe that the time has come to stand up and show a collective voice, not only for the 29 000 people who are employed to help keep South Africa fit at approximately 1096 gyms across the country, but also for the 2.2 million people who have club memberships – from the smaller independent gyms and franchises to the big clubs.
They believe that continued closure is irrational, considering health and safety protocols that are set to put in place.
“Opening up gyms will save jobs, and will give South Africans the choice should they want to return to their workouts,” FitSA remarked.
In Pretoria North, about 30 people joined Armand Fourie, owner of Figure Fanatics Gym, and his staff to take part in the protest action.
Fourie, a former South African champion and internationally renowned bodybuilder, has been a professional athlete in the industry for almost 20 years. However, his extremely successful gym, the largest private club in Pretoria north of the Magalies mountain, that boasted about 1000 members until the lockdown, is now seriously threatened.
The club’s income was obviously severely hampered. Fourie told Rekord many of his customers have terminated their membership and discontinued their payments since the lockdown started. Although he cannot blame them for this, he, like other professionals in the industry, experiences great frustration, as they believe that the public right now urgently needs the facility of a gym.
This frustration is also addressed in FitSA’s statement when they explain why – while believing that they can operate within the rules regarding sanitation and health safety – gyms can play an important role in the public’s physical and mental health right now.
This includes the fact that that gyms can address various Covid-19 related health issue such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, depression and anxiety which are all addressed with exercise. To top it all off, regular exercise is one of the best ways to boost a person’s immune system.
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