DA win second case against Lindiwe Zulu, call for minister to resign

The Democratic Alliance (DA) have won their bid to prevent food relief programme regulations being implemented by the Department of Social Development and its Minister Lindiwe Zulu that would prevent Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) from feeding the vulnerable during the nationwide lockdown. 

The Western Cape High Court ruled in favour of the DA’s application to deny the passing of proposed regulations by Zulu on Tuesday 23 June, ordering the department to scrap the proposal. 

The DA said on Wednesday 24 June that the ruling means that “perhaps hundreds of thousands of people” will avoid going hungry, and called for Zulu’s resignation from office over the matter. 

Western Cape High Court rule in favour of DA

This is the second set of regulations put forward by Zulu that have been contested in court, with the DA winning both complaints. 

The DA’s shadow minister for social development, James Lorimer, said that the party warmly welcomes the judgement.

“The judgment stops the regulations from being implemented, says she has to give the DA three days’ notice if she wants to bring any new food distribution regulations and awards costs to the DA,” he said. 

“The latest regulations were published last Thursday and sought to set up a complicated system of planning and reporting that would need to be complied with by all NGOs and food relief charities before they operated soup kitchens or distributed food parcels.”

“They had the potential of blocking food relief as organisations became mired in bureaucratic processes.”

DA call for Zulu to resign  

It’s fair to say that Zulu has had limited success during the lockdown, and Lorimer said that she had acted without consideration for the damage her proposed laws would have, and accused her of trying to control food distribution in exchange for political favours. 

“Despite admitting she did not expect the damaging effects of the lockdown on poor people, Zulu still went ahead with her new regulations,” said Lorimer. 

“She may believe her Department of Social Development is a super-efficient organisation that has plenty of spare capacity to start a process that will control all food distribution. This is not likely as the department struggles to perform its core functions.

“The alternative, and more likely explanation, is that she wants to control food distribution so that she can exchange food for promises of political loyalty.”

Lorimer said that Zulu should resign in light of what has transpired over the course of the lockdown within Zulu’s department, which has struggled to efficiently distribute relief grants and recently delivered what many considered to be a tone deaf appraisal of the scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa.

“She has been shown to care nothing for the lives of vulnerable South Africans,” he said. “This should disqualify her from public office.”

“If President Ramaphosa had an iota of conscience, he would fire her from his cabinet immediately.”

He said that NGOs should now feel emboldened to continue their work and help feed the hungry without fear of repercussion. 

“The DA is grateful that her destructive, idiotic plans have been stopped and that all South Africans can go ahead and feed their neighbours in need, without government interference.”