The end of the State of Disaster won’t necessarily mean the end of COVID mitigations – Image: Adobe Stock
The end of the State of Disaster won’t necessarily mean the end of COVID mitigations – Image: Adobe Stock
Despite recording rock-bottom COVID figures since the turn of the year, South Africa extended its State of Disaster rules for another month on Tuesday – to much public and political consternation.
‘Scumbags’ – DA lay into ANC for SoD extension
The Cabinet vowed in February that the State of Disaster laws would finally expire in March. However, that promise was shattered back on Tuesday morning, after lockdown restrictions were imposed for one more month.
The ridiculous u-turn has not gone down well with Shadow Minister Dean Macpherson, who labelled the key-decision makers as ‘scumbags’. The DA representative wants to see an end to the ‘theatre’ of COVID measures.
“After Cyril Ramaphosa’s government said that the State of Disaster would end on 15 March 2022, they have extended it again. Scumbags… We must drop regulations and end the theatre around COVID. Time to get back to normal life.”
Dean Macpherson
State of Disaster battle heading for court
His anger is being felt across the country. Although the remaining lockdown laws are relatively mild, the decision to keep the State of Disaster in place enables the government to impose harder, more draconian restrictions without any Parliamentary oversight. With the virus subsiding, that’s not a great look for the ANC.
The DearSA lobby group is already laying the groundwork to derail the State of Disaster, though. The legal challenge they launched has received over 62 000 submissions at the time of writing – and a swell of public support is expected to bolster these numbers. The civil rights outfit is now preparing to take the government to court.
“Ending the State of Disaster – which will have been in place for two years in late March – will immediately benefit the country and can only help move SA forward. Through this campaign, we’ve made it easy for you as a responsible citizen of South Africa, to influence government decisions before they are made.”
DearSA statement
It’s game on folks. Please show your support for our legal action to end the State of Disaster by clicking this link; https://t.co/c18PKi6ujM
— DearSAfrica (@DearSA_national) March 15, 2022
Let’s get those numbers up! https://t.co/3yWhNgKgBw
