DA will obtain legal opinion regarding current Covid-regulations

5 May 2022

Note to Editors: Please find an attached soundbite by Michele Clarke MP.

The DA will seek legal advice regarding the Covid-19 regulations that have, last night, been promulgated under the National Health Act, 2003. The regulations regarding wearing of masks, venue capacity and international travel were previously promulgated under the National State of Disaster.

This is in addition to draft regulations that are currently open for public comments that aim to essentially force the use of Covid-vaccines and mandatory quarantines.

The ANC government has now desperately added regulations to the Health Act to allow the Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, unprecedented and far-reaching powers to impede on South Africans’ Constitutional rights. The legality of these regulations are questioned, as they are similar regulations that were previously used under Disaster Management Act, that has now lapsed.

The DA has been very vocal in our opposition of the State of Disaster, which is now being sneaked into the regulations of the Health Act. Again, the ANC is governing through regulations, without consulting South Africans or Parliament, and in this case, likely promulgating regulations beyond the scope of the Act. We will not hesitate to go to court to confront government in abusing its powers.

The promulgated regulations, furthermore, does not have a time-frame attached to them, and South Africans are thus expected to live under a perpetual “State of Disaster”.

Similarly, the DA will continue to oppose the draft regulations to the Health Act that have been gazetted on 15 March 2022 and for which public comments close in three months’ time. These regulations will ultimately force South Africans to have compulsory medical examinations, tests, and treatment such as the Covid-19 vaccine. While the DA strongly supports vaccinations, we do not believe it should be mandatory.

The irrational capacity restrictions for venues continues to decimate small businesses and the arts and culture sectors. In its draconian and single-minded determination to cling to its dwindling power, the ANC government is sacrificing economic recovery. With a government that has engineered every aspect of its governance to be as corrupt as possible, the various Ministers, cadres and cronies in positions of power do not have the same survival concerns as ordinary South Africans who continue to suffer and starve.

It is no surprise that Minister Phaahla sneaked the current, promulgated regulations into the Government Gazette at the 99th hour. It is a tactic often employed in the Zuma-era. The ANC government will indeed do everything to avoid accountability to Parliament and the citizens of South Africa.

Issued by Michele Clarke, DA Shadow Minister of Health, 5 May 2022