The civil rights organisation AfriForum and the public participation platform DearSA began with legal action against government’s decision to permanently enshrine Covid-19 regulations in law.

The organisations today filed their urgent legal application in the Northern Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

This follows the Department of Health’s announcement that regulations relating to notifiable diseases in terms of the National Health Act 61 of 2003 and the International Health Regulations Act 28 of 1974, have now been amended.

This means that the government can permanently enforce mask mandates and restrictions on gatherings. The regulations also give Joe Phaahla, Minister of Health, the sole authority to determine how long such regulations should be implemented and when they can be lifted. This applies not only to Covid-19, but any notifiable disease. AfriForum and DearSA also question the validity of the public participation process followed by the Department of Health before these regulations were implemented. The two organisations submitted more than 310 000 public comments combined.

AfriForum also finds it alarming that the regulations that were gazetted, were not the same regulations that were published for public comment.

“Citizens of this country are not pawns on the government’s chess board to be pushed around whenever power-hungry officials feel like it. AfriForum will fight these regulations in the highest courts, if necessary, to ensure that citizens’ rights are fully restored. Citizens are fed up with government’s constant encroachment on their personal freedoms,” says Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s Campaigs Manager.