Court declares Level 3,4 of lockdown 'unconstitutional and invalid'
- The Gauteng High Court has declared the Level 3 and 4 lockdown regulations unconstitutional and invalid
- In a ruling handed down on Tuesday, the court opted to suspend the declaration of invalidity for 14 days
- Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma now has two weeks to amend the regulations or have them tossed out completely
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The Level 4 and 3 lockdown regulations have been declared 'unconstitutional and invalid' by the Gauteng High Court.
In a statement issued by the Ministry in the Presidency on Tuesday, it was revealed that a court application against the government had hit home:
"Government has taken note of the judgment delivered by the Gauteng Division of the High Court today, 2 June, declaring the Alert Level 4 and Alert Level 3 lockdown regulations unconstitutional and invalid. The court suspended the declaration of invalidity for a period of 14 days."
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However, this does not mean that the lockdown is lifted according to the statement:
"This means that the Alert Level 3 regulations remain in operation for now. The court has further directed the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, in consultation with the relevant Ministers to review, amend and republish the regulations with 'due consideration to the limitation each regulation has on the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights'."
Cabinet is now expected to make a further statement 'once it has fully studied the judgment'.
Briefly.co.za reported that numerous entities including the Democratic Alliance, the Freedom Front Plus, AfriForum and others had sought to challenge the constitutional validity of the lockdown in court.
While for now, it remains unclear what changes will be made to the regulations, it is apparent that numerous aspects of the lockdown have now been called into question by the judiciary.
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Source: Briefly News
