Will State of Disaster laws be renewed this month? Court action ‘may halt govt plans’

The DA has confirmed that its legal bid to review South Africa’s State of Disaster laws has been heard by the courts. Lawyers representing the opposition party appeared in the dock on Tuesday, arguing that the government must first put any ‘renewal’ of lockdown to Parliament before making it law.

Restoring and protecting Parliament’s legislative and oversight powers is also what our constitutional challenge to section 27 of the Disaster Management Act aims to achieve. – @BrinkCilliers

— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) February 9, 2021

State of Disaster laws ‘should not renew automatically’ – DA

Since the end of March 2020, a State of Disaster has been in place for Mzansi. It started with a three-month implementation, and has been rolled over each month since then. Cyril Ramaphosa is highly likely to extend these COVID-19 protocols – which are set to expire on Monday 15 February – through to Monday 15 March instead.

However, some critics of the government are upset that the ANC gets to dictate lockdown laws without the proposals being properly scrutinised in the National Assembly first. Cilliers Brink, the Shadow COGTA Minister, has been leading the charge to bring ALL political parties with serving MPs into the high-level discussions.

Lockdown laws ‘could get a reshuffle’

According to Brink, this current set-up is ‘borderline authoritarian’, and blurs the line between State of Disaster laws and State of Emergency laws. The party also wants the courts to help them overturn a number of rules laid out by the Disaster Management Act.

“The DA calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to submit any possible extension of the national state of disaster to Parliament for approval and review. The present State of Disaster comes to an end on Monday 15 February, and South Africans are tired of accepting, without question, the government’s decisions on how to curb the pandemic.”

“The risk of South Africa being governed under a perpetual State of Disaster with little parliamentary oversight and no parliamentary control goes beyond Covid-19 pandemic. Section 27 of the Disaster Management Act has created a de facto state of emergency with the government assuming wide-ranging powers of every aspect of South African life.”

“Unlike a state of emergency, the government’s decisions under a state of disaster is not subject to a parliamentary veto. Restoring our legislative powers is also what our constitutional challenge to section 27 of the Disaster Management Act aims to achieve. The matter is now in court, and the DA will also propose amendments to the Disaster Management Act.”

Cilliers Brink