DURBAN - Government has 14 days to review and amend alert level 4 and alert level 3 lockdown regulations.
This comes after the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that government’s lockdown regulations for level 3 and 4 are unconstitutional and invalid; but the alert level 3 regulations will remain in operation for now.
In a statement issued by the cabinet, the government said it noted the judgment and said a response would be issued in due course.
“Government has taken note of the judgment delivered by the Gauteng division of the high court today, June 2, declaring the alert level 4 and alert level 3 lockdown regulations unconstitutional and invalid,” the statement reads.
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The court has further directed the minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, in consultation with the relevant ministers to review, amend and republish the regulations with 'due consideration to the limitation each regulation has on the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights'.
Cabinet will make a further statement once it has fully studied the judgment,” it added.
The court found that the declaration of the state of disaster in response to the Covid-19 pandemic was rational. However, most of the promulgated regulations for level 3 and 4 were not rationally connected to the objectives of slowing the rate of infection, or limiting the spread of Covid-19.
The order handed down speaks to the limitation each regulation has on the rights guaranteed in the Bill or Rights contained in the Constitution. The court says it’s mindful of the need to maintain structure given COVID19 danger, while regulations are reviewed.
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