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Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is going to have to answer for the decisions implemented by the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) over the next few weeks, and she’s not off to a great start.

Yesterday evening, social media platforms and WhatsApp groups were overrun with reporting on the recent High Court judgement declaring alert level 3 and alert level 4 regulations invalid and unconstitutional.

Dlamini-Zuma has been given 14 days to amend the regulations.

In the meantime, lockdown restrictions still apply.

However, that isn’t the end of the legal proceedings levelled against government.

Both Dlamini-Zuma and President Ramaphosa are respondents on a number of cases soon to be heard in various courtrooms, challenging what some have referred to as the ‘draconian’ and confusing regulations put in place during the national lockdown.

News24 broke down some of the legal battles underway over the course of the month or two.

The DA

The party will file papers challenging the constitutionality of the NCCC on the grounds that it has no parliamentary oversight.

Three separate court cases will challenge various aspects of the lockdown, including the military enforced curfew, the ban on e-commerce, and regulated exercise hours.

The party’s interim leader, John Steenhuisen, claims that these restrictions were illogical and irrational.

The DA and Hairdressers

The courts initially dismissed the application by hairdressers to reopen salons. Now the case has been picked up by the DA, which is threatening to take legal action.

FF Plus

FF Plus intends to file an urgent application with the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to challenge the validity of the National Disaster Management Act.

FF Plus is also seeking a judgement that declares that the lockdown regulations were unconstitutional, and that government abused the Act for its own ends.

Tobacco Ban

British American Tobacco SA, Japan Tobacco International SA, and eight other industry collaborators have served notice on the government that they were filing papers in the Cape Town High Court to have the continued ban on tobacco sales set aside.

Meanwhile, the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) has filed its papers in preparation for its day in court.

Fita is challenging the 2 000 complaints against the sale of tobacco products cited by Dlamini-Zuma when she extended the tobacco ban to alert level 4, saying that only 1 897 submissions were made, with 66,7% not related to the ban at all.

You can read more about Dlamini-Zuma’s reasons for the ban, here.

It appears as though the rules and regulations enforced could become a legal minefield for the government, and the NCCC, as the lockdown continues.

[source:news24]