Party challenging “irrational and unconstitutional aspects of the current hard lockdown”
THE DA’s Covid-19 court case online donations website has been restored after it was so overwhelmed that it overloaded the system, DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille said on Saturday.
The DA was heartened by the many South Africans who were contributing whatever they could towards the party’s legal challenges against “irrational and unconstitutional aspects of the current hard lockdown”, she said in a statement.
DA leader John Steenhuisen announced on Thursday that the party would seek legal remedy through the courts on “irrational” measures, such as the e-commerce ban (which was dropped within hours of the DA’s court challenge), the three-hour exercise window, and the military-enforced curfew.
Furthermore, the DA was also challenging the constitutionality of aspects of the Disaster Management Act that concentrated massive law-making powers in the hands of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma without any oversight from Parliament, and enabled her to delegate such powers to other ministers, who were equally unaccountable. They could extend this power indefinitely, Zille said.
“Already in the past seven weeks, they have issued over 40 sets of regulations, comprising hundreds of pages of new legislation, governing almost every aspect of our lives, from when we may leave our homes and for what purpose, who we may visit, when and where we may exercise, what we may buy, and what we may wear – to name a few.”
Zille said that his “violation” of fundamental rights required increased and rigorous oversight, not less. Turning an unaccountable group of ministers into a law-making machine was also a violation of the separation of powers, she said.
“It was for these reasons that we asked South Africans to assist in funding our cases, even with small amounts, and the response was so overwhelming that it overloaded our online donations system. We have since increased capacity on our site to accommodate increased web traffic to our online donations portal for anyone who wishes to donate.
“The DA is heartened by this positive response, which will go some way to funding our legal challenges as we continue to fight for a smart lockdown model that limits the spread of Covid-19 while simultaneously protecting livelihoods, preventing hunger, and getting South Africans back to work safely,” Zille said.
– African News Agency (ANA)
