DearSA – Civil body guns for the government

Although the state of disaster was lifted and key Covid shutdown regulations terminated in April, civil society organisation DearSA is going ahead with its litigation against the government because Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla will have unrestricted powers to do as he likes under the new set-up.

Now, the body wants to stop the minister from granting himself sweeping powers to impose regulations under the planned amendment to the National Health Act.

DearSA said as things stand, the minister would enforce the regulations while side-stepping any public scrutiny. The NGO believed this was unlawful and the minister must be stopped in the tracks.

DearSA chair Rob Hutchinson said: “Those regulations have since fallen away, as has the matter of urgency, but we are continuing with our court case, as we believe it is in the vital interests of South Africans to know if the minister of health made the correct decision at the time and whether he acted within the bounds of the constitution. We argue that he did not.”

DearSA and several civil society organisations that had filed to oppose the new regulations to be included in the Health Act Amendment argued that there was no difference between the state of disaster and the new regulations.

In fact, the new regulations were an extension of the lockdown regulations as they imposed the same restrictions as in the state of disaster.

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AfriForum has already warned government that it would initiate litigation if the regulations were put in place.

Civil society organisations play a key role in influencing policy making and implementation in South Africa.

The bodies mainly use public mobilisation and court challenges to force the state to implement policy.

When President Cyril Ramaphosa terminated the national state of disaster in April, and repealed all its regulations governing public behaviour under Covid, he said some regulations would be reissued by the health minister under the National Health Act.

The department had proposed the introduction of mandatory medical examinations and isolation and treatments for people with notifiable medical conditions.

Among others, the new regulations would require that anyone entering or exiting South Africa during a pandemic with no vaccination certificate must provide a negative PCR test that was not older than 72 hours.

Indoor and outdoor gathering would remain under restrictions and night vigils and after-funeral gatherings.

– ericn@citizen.co.za