Ending of state of disaster ‘merely symbolic’ - AfriForum
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday evening that the national state of disaster would officially come to an end at midnight.
In his address to the nation, Ramaphosa explained that some regulations would remain in place for 30 days to allow government to transition to the Health Act.
But AfriForum believes this means the status quo will remain in place.
"The government today announced the ending of the national state of disaster after the civil rights organisation AfriForum and other organisations took legal action against it," says AfriForum’s Reiner Duvenage.
“This announcement will do little to change the status quo, since the current Covid-19 regulations will remain in place for a further month, after which the government’s controversial new health regulations will come into force.”
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Duvenage says the new health regulations will give the green light to laws that were in place under the Disaster Management Act.
“This means that most of the Covid-19 measures will remain in place, and some measures that were struck down in court such as forced quarantine will take effect again.
“We as AfriForum strongly and unequivocally oppose the government’s sly and power-hungry actions. We owe it to our members and the general public to prevent this outrageous abuse of power.”
Duvenage adds that AfriForum is consulting with its lawyers.
“Along with its legal commentary, (we) have created a petition against the proposed health regulations which has already been signed by around 25 000 people.”
