Government to fight judgment on ‘invalid’ lockdown regulations

Cabinet has resolved to appeal the high court judgment that declared the Covid-19 regulations under levels 3 and 4 invalid and unconstitutional.

Minister in the presidency Jackson Mthembu said  announced this during a media briefing on the outcomes of a cabinet meeting held earlier on Thursday.

According to the ruling handed down on Tuesday, the lockdown regulations do not satisfy the rationality test. “Their encroachment on and limitation of rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights contained in the constitution are not justifiable in an open democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom as contemplated in section 36 of the constitution,” the judgment said.

The court gave government 14 days to alter the guidelines, meaning level-3 regulations remain in place until new regulations were published. However, Mthembu said cabinet is of the view that another court might come to a different conclusion on the matter.

“Cabinet has therefore decided to appeal the north Gauteng high court decision and government will ask that its appeal is heard on an urgent basis so that all of us can obtain certainty on the regulations,” he said.

Co-operative governance minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will be joined by President Cyril Ramaphosa and health minister Zweli Mkhize, in the appeal.

Extension

“Cabinet wishes to assure the nation that all interventions introduced since the declaring of the national state of disaster in March 2020 by President Ramaphosa have been directed primarily at saving the lives of our people,” said Mthembu.

Meanwhile, cabinet has approved an extension of the national state of disaster by another month, to 15 July.  — SANews