Outa becomes latest organisation to launch legal challenge against state of disaster

The application was lodged in the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday.

The application is brought against eight respondents, including the president, head of the National Disaster Management Centre, Cooperative Governance Minister and the Mineral Resources and Energy Minister.

The state of disaster grants extraordinary powers to government officials to make far-reaching decisions without parliamentary oversight.

Outa’s Stefanie Fick says they want the court to review and set aside the declaration of the national state of disaster. 

"We are also asking the court to immediately interdict the first four respondents from taking any further steps in terms of the state of disaster, pending Part B of our application which aims to review the decision to declare a state of disaster.

"We believe the decision to declare the disaster was irrational, arbitrary and unlawful. The electricity crisis is not new but was created by the government itself over many years through failure to implement plans or to hold people to account."

Fick says there is no evidence that a state of disaster will help address the electricity issues.

"Declaring a national state of disaster will in effect become a tool for the government to circumvent accountability and hide behind the excuse of a disaster to reach an apparent ‘quick fix’ for problems that were years in the making, we believe the electricity crisis which South Africa has struggled with for more than 15 years should not be addressed through the introduction of a national state of disaster.”

The application is expected to be heard on 28 February.

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