Testing times for courts over rules

President Cyril Ramaphosa has repeatedly said all South Africans “have a right to approach our courts” to challenge lockdown regulations. While the “double standards” of some of the lockdown restrictions imposed have been puzzling to say the least, the president has insisted these regulations have been put in place with the well-being of the people at heart. And if you don’t like it, you are welcome to challenge it in court, Ramaphosa has said.

“The exercise of the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and speech is a barometer of the good health of our democracy,” Ramaphosa said in his weekly newsletter last month. “But much more than that, these rights are essential to the success of our national and collective struggle to overcome the coronavirus.

He added: “We often take our healthy and robust democracy for granted. Yet it is probably our greatest asset in our momentous struggle to overcome the coronavirus pandemic. One of the triumphs of our democracy is that every South African believes the constitution protects them and that the courts are a fair and impartial arbiter of their interests.”

Many of the lockdown restrictions have come in for severe criticism, none more so than the ban on the sale of tobacco products.

However, government’s decision to maintain the ban received a shot in the arm on Friday when the High Court in Pretoria dismissed with costs the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association’s application to have the ban overturned.

It was a good day for government in court as they were also successful when the High Court in Cape Town dismissed a challenge to the validity of the lockdown rules. The challenge was filed on the grounds that they were inconsistent with the constitution.

Judge Rosheni Allie said “the inconvenience and discontent the regulations caused had to be weighed against the imperative to save lives, and were considered justified under the circumstances”.

With many more challenges to the legality of the rules and the nation’s Disaster Management Act still pending, the courts will certainly be put to the test in the coming months.