Lawsuits mount against government
LOYISO SIDIMBA
LEGAL challenges are piling up against the government’s measures to fight the spread of Covid-19 as a number of fed-up South Africans have questioned their lawfulness up to the Constitutional Court.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, members of his executive and Parliament have been slapped with several lawsuits across the country, with the latest being the Helen Suzman Foundation, which has asked the apex court to force the Cabinet to prepare legislation to regulate the government’s response to Covid-19 and the National Legislature to pass the laws.
Ramaphosa has indicated that he respects the right of every citizen to challenge his administration.
In papers filed this week, the foundation’s director Francis Antonie said they want Cabinet, without delay, to prepare and initiate national legislation to regulate the country’s response to Covid-19.
The foundation also asked the Concourt to terminate Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s power under the Disaster Management Act (DMA).
According to Antonie, the foundation objects to the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the failure of parts of the state to respond.
“Parliament and Cabinet have failed in their constitutional duties to exercise their vital and respective legislative and executive authority to deal with Covid-19,” reads Antonie’s founding affidavit.
He said Parliament had abandoned its powers to Ramaphosa, Dlamini Zuma and the Cabinet to continue acting unilaterally to legislate every material aspect of everyone’s social, political and economic life for over two months.
Ramaphosa’s Cabinet and Parliament, Antonie continued, have been missing in action since the declaration of the State of National Disaster in March and the irreplaceable people’s voice has fallen silent.
Another legal challenge, this time to the establishment of the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), was filed this week in the Western Cape High Court by a group of eight students at the universities of Cape Town and SA, researchers, a public servant and an intern.
They want the setting up of the NCCC declared inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid or that the council duplicates and/or supplants the National Disaster Management Centre’s functions and acts unlawfully.
In his founding affidavit, UCT student Duwayne Esau accused the government of making regulations that lack rational connection with the objective of combating Covid-19 and disregarding fundamental rights.
Esau said the government’s “decision-making processes have been marked by an opacity that contradicts South Africa’s founding values of openness and accountability”.
The Liberty Fighters’ Network wants the North Gauteng High Court to order that the declaration of the State of National Disaster in terms of the DMA and regulations published under the act are unlawful and invalid.
It has asked the court to also declare that gatherings that comply with the Regulation of Gatherings Act are lawful and all businesses, services and shops to be allowed to operate if they take precautions such as wearing masks, gloves and using hand sanitisers.
Dlamini Zuma is opposing the network’s application.
In the Western Cape High Court yesterday, the DA and non-profit organisation 1 000 Women Trust challenged Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu’s regulation of the distribution of food to the needy and vulnerable under the DMA.