The groups trying to slowly pick at the lock of SA’s Covid-19 prison

The process gained momentum with Thursday’s victory by the Dear South Africa grouping, which saw Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel back down to an ultimatum to permit online shopping or face an urgent court interdict.

President Cyril Ramaphosa was meeting the National Economic Development and Labour Council yesterday to discuss the details of moving “most of the country” to Level 3 from Level 4 by the end of this month.

Some sectors, including automotive, have already won concessions from government on reopening and others are putting their case vigorously.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is the latest to drag government to court, challenging the 8pm to 5am curfew, the restrictions on public transport operating times and the exercise window between 6am and 9am.

The party said Covid-19 regulations – and the directions issued under them – could be “unconstitutional in their entirety”.

An affidavit deposed by Glynnis Breytenbach, a DA MP and former senior prosecutor, said a state of disaster was declared in March, but the current situation was more like a state of emergency without the safeguards.

She said the Disaster Management Act gave Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, “broad and intrusive regulatory powers”.

“They are, moreover, subject to barely any procedural constraints.

“All the minister is required to do before promulgating regulations under [the Act] is to consult the relevant Cabinet members.

“The minister may exercise these regulatory powers for the duration of the Covid-19 state of disaster, which [the Act] empowers her to extend indefinitely.

“South Africans do not know when Level 4 will end – under [the Act], it can go on for months, years or, theoretically, forever.”

Regarding outdoor exercise only being allowed between 6am and 9am, Breytenbach said in her affidavit this was “almost certain to worsen the spread of Covid-19 rather than preventing it”.

“This means that more people are on the streets in a shorter space of time and the exercise restriction thus makes it more difficult to practise social distancing while exercising.

“It adds entirely unnecessary risk to exercise.”

Of the public transport ban between 8pm and 5am, Breytenbach said the purpose was unclear.

“Being on a bus (or in an Uber) at night is not more likely to spread Covid-19 than during the day.

“The transport restriction probably also indirectly discriminates on the basis of race.

“The average white South African is more likely to own a vehicle than the average black South African, meaning the latter is more likely to be stranded, rendered immobile or arrested as a result of the transport restriction.”

The curfew, Breytenbach said, was “disproportionate and an unjustifiable limitation of the right to freedom of movement”.

Like the exercise restrictions, it was likely to worsen the spread of Covid-19, she added.

“Being apprehended and handcuffed by a police officer [who might be infected], being loaded into the back of a [SA Police Service] bakkie [with other arrestees who might be infected] and spending the night in a cramped, poorly ventilated holding cell with other prisoners is a recipe for spreading Covid-19,” Breytenbach said.

The Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association is continuing with its challenge of the government ban on cigarette sales.

The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) party is also taking government to court to challenge the state of disaster and associated regulations as unconstitutional.

The FF+ said government was abusing its powers by invoking the National Disaster Management Act instead of the State of Emergency Act, which limits the time for a state of emergency, while requiring parliamentary approval and oversight on regulations.

– news@citizen.co.za

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