Cabinet extends State of Disaster – and appeals judgment against Covid-19 lockdown rules
A special Cabinet meeting on Thursday extended the State of Disaster to 15 July – the first of possibly many other one-month extensions. And government is bringing out its top guns to appeal the Pretoria High Court ruling declaring most lockdown regulations unconstitutional and invalid.Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu reiterated several times that the Covid-19 lockdown regulations remained in force, given government’s appeal.
It is a clear signal how criticism of the Covid-19 lockdown and its regulations has touched a nerve in the government that has made the coronavirus pandemic a central driver of its programmes, even if the precise direction remains contested between securocrats, micromanagers and constitutionalists .“Without those regulations we can’t save lives. We can’t save the lives of our loved ones; we can’t save lives or our children. That’s why we are appealing.
The one-month extension to 15 July is permissible under the Disaster Management Act, which limits the initial declaration of a State of Disaster to a maximum of three months. The law allows a one-month extension, but after that it is unclear whether there could be further extensions. Described as one of the most draconian in the world, South Africa’s Covid-19 lockdown may now also become one of the world’s longest.
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