Government has two weeks to overhaul lockdown regulations

Government has two weeks to overhaul lockdown regulations they say were put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus, or win an appeal.

The High Court has found some coronavirus lockdown regulations imposed by the government "unconstitutional and invalid".

The judge picked out rules around funerals, informal workers and amount of exercise as "irrational".

The government was given 14 days to overhaul the regulations - or appeal.

The Money Show interviews Cas Coovadia, chief executive at Business Unity SA and Bulelwa Mabasa from Werksmans Attorneys.

The whole basis of the judgement is based on the rationality test which is a well-established test used in our constitution

Bulelwa Mabasa - Werksmans Attorneys

I think the national state of disaster has to be understood to not be the same thing as a state of emergency - so constitutional rights are not suspended and the decisions by the executive still must be underpinned by rule of law and rationality - it is not difficult for me to see why Judge Davis reached the conclusion.

Bulelwa Mabasa - Werksmans Attorneys

I think the public sentiment when the hard lockdown was imposed was positive - civil society, business all rallied behind the regulations.

Bulelwa Mabasa - Werksmans Attorneys

The wheels started to come off at level three when decisions about the reopening of the economy had consequences that became illogical like the reopening of churches and limiting the numbers to 50 where for example a hairdresser is still not allowed to open.

Bulelwa Mabasa - Werksmans Attorneys

We have consistently been saying whatever decision needs to be taken should be on merit and should be fact-based...

Cas Coovadia, chief executive - Business Unity SA

We have in our discussions with government been saying that we need to open up the economy with a few exceptions and enable businesses to manage the conditions to protect employees - different businesses will do that in different ways...we've been public to say some of the regulations could have been managed better.

Cas Coovadia, chief executive - Business Unity SA

The state of disaster has not been ruled against - government has been given two weeks to try and remedy what are in the opinion of the judge irrational regulations...and I think government should do that.

Cas Coovadia, chief executive - Business Unity SA

Listen to the interview below.

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This article first appeared on 702 : Government has two weeks to overhaul lockdown regulations

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