Food delivery app Mr D Food has begun trialling the delivery of essential goods during South Africa’s 21-day coronavirus lockdown.

In a statement posted on its mobile app, Mr D Food said that it would only deliver the goods from essential retailers as per the country’s current lockdown regulations.

“This service is initially only available in selected areas from between 08h00 – 17h00 on weekdays. We plan to expand areas, outlets and trading times as soon as we can and will keep you updated,” it said.

Mr D Food said that individual stores will determine what goods are for sale and each store will set their own prices.

It added that food, snack sand non-alcoholic drinks will be available through the service and that all items will be available through contactless delivery.

“In support of social distancing, all Mr D Food deliveries are now contactless. Our drivers have been instructed not to make physical contact with any customers and to maintain a safe distance,” it said.

“Bags will be placed on a surface indicated by you, the driver will then back away and allow you to pick up the order yourself.”

To facilitate this, Mr D Food said that it has temporarily deactivated cash payments and is encouraging customers to use other secure methods of payment such as EFT or cards.

Takealot

Earlier this week, Takealot said that it would also for the sale  and delivery of essential goods during South Africa’s 21-day lockdown.

It added that it has put precautionary measures in place to prevent non-essential items from going through its checkout process and will be monitoring this closely in compliance with Government directives.

“To assist in the prevention of panic buying, we have also imposed stock limitations to certain key products and will be restricting customers to no more than five of these items per checkout We will continue to monitor buying behaviour and may expand on these key products as the need arises,” it said.

“We are ensuring compliance with the recent price gouging legislation and will ensure that our marketplace sellers also comply. Given the nature of the platform our seller compliance will be retrospective.”

Regulations published by the Department of Cooperative and Government Affairs state that all retail shops and shopping malls must be closed, except where these essential goods are sold. The regulations also state that stores will be prohibited from selling any other goods.

These include:

Food 

• Any food product – including non-alcoholic beverages. It is important to note that the sale of alcoholic beverages has been completely banned and that South Africans have also been prohibited from transporting alcohol;
• Animal (pet food);
• Chemicals, packaging and ancillary products used in the production of any food.

Cleaning and hygiene products 

• Toilet paper, sanitary pads, sanitary tampons, condoms;
• Hand sanitiser, disinfectants, soap, alcohol for industrial use, household cleaning products, personal protective equipment;
• Chemicals, packaging and ancillary products used in the production of any of the above.

Medical 

• Medical and hospital supplies, equipment and personal protective equipment;
• Chemicals, packaging and ancillary products used in the production of any of the above.

Fuel

• This includes gas and coal.

Basic goods 

• This includes airtime and electricity. While this category is relatively vague, it will likely be guided by the essential services which are currently outlined by the gazette.