“Clownish and racially motivated.” This is how EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini described the Pretoria High Court judgment, handed down earlier this week, in which various lockdown regulations under levels 3 and 4 were declared “irrational”, “unconstitutional” and “invalid”.
Dlamini said government stood a strong chance of overturning the judgment on appeal because “the judge erred in his overarching ruling”.
The regulations were struck down by Judge Norman Davis in a case brought by the Liberty Fighters Network, a Pretoria-based civil society group.
In an interview with City Press, Dlamini expressed his party’s support for Cabinet’s decision to have Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma appeal the ruling. He had harsh words for the judge.
“The court ruling is clownish. The judgment was cooked to discredit Nkosazana more than it was made to take into consideration the merits of the application.
Read: High Court rules lockdown regulations ‘unconstitutional and invalid’
“We stand with Cabinet to say it was a nonsensical ruling. We do not think it was done properly. Such matters need a sober judge to preside over, not the one who provided that judgment.”
Dlamini said the EFF would not be co-applicants in the matter, “but we encourage and support Cabinet to fight against it in court as we see it as racial discrimination against Nkosazana”.
He added that, despite the EFF having voiced its support for the appeal, his party did not support government’s decision to move to lockdown level 3 and ease certain regulations, saying it was too hasty.
Dlamini said such a move would lead to the loss of life, adding: “We still oppose the opening of the economy and sending children to school because the infection rate keeps rising. Even the World Health Organisation has said we are not ready to open because the numbers [of people who have contracted the Covid-19 coronavirus] are not declining and people are dying.
“The ruling party has not justified in a satisfactory manner why it decided to reopen the economy. If there was a sensible reason – like government providing proof that it had managed to slow down the infection rate and the spread of the virus, and ensured that people would not die as a result – then we would have agreed with the move to level 3. As it stands, government’s decision has been reckless.”
Dlamini said the EFF would “continue fighting on the ground”, particularly “against the call for children to return to school tomorrow”.
Dlamini’s perspective on this week’s judgment was shared by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, who told City Press: “Government will probably succeed on appeal.”
Attributing his assertion to “the judgment being wrong in terms of how the judge arrived at the ruling”, Ngcukaitobi added: “If you look at the judgment, the judge accepts that level 4 regulations had lapsed by the time he gave the judgment and that level 3 regulations had not been challenged before him. Despite these issues, he struck down both regulations at these levels. That seems to be a material misdirection of law.”
Ngcukaitobi added that his biggest misgiving about the judgment was that Davis had interrogated only four of the various regulations under level 4, namely: restrictions on movement, the curfew, funeral regulations and those governing visitation rights.
“Out of those four, the judge drew a conclusion that all the regulations in place were unconstitutional – which he could not do. You cannot say that because four regulations are unconstitutional, therefore all the other 27 regulations are unconstitutional. Those are the problems in this judgment.
“He also found one regulation under level 3 that was unconstitutional and, on that basis, made a decision – but the judgment is flawed.”
Meanwhile, City Press has reliably learnt that Cabinet members debated whether to abide by the ruling and use the 14-day grace period granted by the judge to make concessions on the restrictions, or lodge an appeal.
One minister said most Cabinet members had felt that abiding by the ruling “would weaken all regulations that had been painstakingly put in place to curb the spread of the pandemic”.
“Already a slew of cases have been instituted against the national command council – and against Dlamini-Zuma in particular. Therefore, adhering to the judgment would have weakened every case and, by extension, government’s entire response to the pandemic.”
The minister said the case for challenging the judgment was also strengthened by the number of legal experts who spoke out, indicating how easy it would be to expose gaps in the Davis ruling.
Do you think the EFF is overreacting to the lockdown rules, or is the party just looking for attention?
SMS us on 35697 using the keyword CLOWN and tell us what you think. Please include your name and province. SMSes cost R1.50. By participating, you agree to receive occasional marketing material
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
