‘Lockdown is over. Go back to normal,’ say Liberty Fighters Network

The Liberty Fighters Network (LFN), who recently won a massive victory by having South Africa’s lockdown regulations declared unconstitutional by the High Court in Pretoria, is now urging people to “go back to normal”, as the lockdown is over.

This despite a judgment in appeal against the high court’s findings currently pending, after having been argued in court on Wednesday by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s legal team.

Reyno De Beer says in a statement on the LFN website that only the sale of tobacco, opening of casinos and nightclubs, cross-border travel, and suspension of initiations and evictions were excluded, based on their interpretation of the 2 June judgment, in which judge Davis declared all the lockdown regulations invalid and gave Dlamini-Zuma till 23 June to rectify the flaws in her regulations.

They believe that since this deadline had passed, and Dlamini-Zuma had failed to republish the rectified version as instructed, the lockdown is therefore over.

“Government claims that the pending application for leave to appeal has suspended the execution and operation of the invalid court order,” De Beer writes, “But LFN says that the period fixed by the Court is regulated in terms of the Constitution which supersedes the Superior Courts Act and can’t be suspended and only extended by the Court relying on previous Constitutional Court cases in its support.”

They argue that government must now obtain a court order stating otherwise if they intend to continue with the lockdown regulations.

A Constitutional expert, however, disagrees with their interpretation of the situation.

Advocate Paul Hoffmann SC on Friday explained that Davis’ order was currently suspended because of the application for leave to appeal, currently pending before the court.

He said it appeared the Liberty Fighters Network had been advised that the 14-day suspension Davis built into his order to afford government an opportunity to remedy the defects in the regulations, would run concurrently with the application for leave to appeal but that this was not the case.

“If they wanted that suspension to run concurrently, they would have had to make an application for the enforcement of the order pending the application for leave to appeal,” he said.

He said, though, that it was unlikely the group could be accused of incitement as it did not appear as though there was any criminal intent.

The group is encouraging South Africans to “open their shops, stop wearing masks and go lighter on the obsessive hygiene if they so wish, and most importantly for churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship to fully open their doors immediately”.

They say: “If we wait for government to tell us that the lockdown is over, we are going to wait forever. If government doesn’t want to give us that right, it is our right to claim it.”

For those who are concerned about government action against them should they listen to LFN, the group believes defiance will require strength in numbers, comparing government’s use of the military to that of the Nazi’s use of the Schutzstaffel to enforce their will. They refer to government as “the alter ego of the Nazi regime”, and political parties who support the continued lockdown as “minions”.

“What is the worst that can happen? We ask them. Government instructing their ‘SS Troops’ to arrest the people who defy the unconstitutional and invalid lockdown regulations as of Wednesday 24 June 2020? We add rhetorically. Will government really want to arrest the whole country who is defying its illegal actions holding its people under home arrest for the past three months all having enough? We doubt.”

The group warned that should government arrest people for defying continued lockdown orders, they would demand to be considered political prisoners and “petition for international intervention”.

“LFN will then request our supporters to find refuge in embassies if they feel threatened by this government’s retaliation and safeguard our families too. De Beer as the captain will not leave his ship, until all are safe.”

The group is threatening peaceful protests against the continued lockdown, as well as mass boycotts and a tax boycott if their demands are not met.

Finally, their statement refers to the Rupert and Oppenheimer families, accusing them of being behind and benefitting from the lockdown somehow.

“The Ruperts and Oppenheimers were so important to the government that they were consulted before the people of South Africa even knew about the lockdown. That deserves a high-level treason and state capture investigation according to us. If Jacob Zuma and the Guptas went through one, surely Ramaphosa and these families should too. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

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