Solidarity and the government in court over state of disaster

28 February 2022

Solidarity and the government will meet in court on 20 April over the lifting of the state of disaster. The High Court notified Solidarity of the date.

According to Solidarity, there is no reason for the state of disaster to still remain in place. The conditions justifying a state of disaster have fallen away and, for this reason, the state of disaster must also come to an end. The court date gives South Africans tangible hope that the end of the state of disaster is in sight.

“The state of disaster confers abnormal rights for abnormal circumstances to the government. A government may not have such powers for a day longer than what is necessary. We have to remember that the powers the government has at the moment are the very same powers used to decide what shoes may be worn and to decree that hot food may not be sold. 

We still have a Command Council that can issue orders. It was during this situation of abnormal powers that billions of rands of Covid-19 funds were looted. South Africa must return to a normal democracy with immediate effect,” Dr Dirk Hermann Solidarity chief executive said.

Solidarity and AfriForum both took court action to end the state of disaster.

“Solidarity would have preferred to be in court earlier, but we are at the mercy of court proceedings. State of disaster legislation does not provide for a disaster to remain in place because the government has yet to establish whether health legislation is sufficient. This could still take months. The government has known for two years that the state of disaster would be lifted sooner or later. It is unlawful of the government to keep the state of disaster in place because it does not have its act together. The state of disaster cannot be sustained because the government is a disaster,” Hermann said. 

Solidarity has appealed to the government not to extend the state of disaster in March. The right thing for the government to do is to lift the state of disaster and to not wait for a court to compel it to do so.

Issued by Morné Malan, Head of Communications, Solidarity, 28 February 2022