Lockdown is legal, Constitutional Court says as it dismisses NGO's case

30 March 2020 - 15:21 By Nomahlubi Jordaan
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The Constitutional Court has dismissed an application from an NGO to declare the national lockdown unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Court has dismissed an application from an NGO to declare the national lockdown unconstitutional.
Image: NICOLENE OLCKERS/GALLO IMAGES

The Constitutional Court has dismissed a civil society body's application to have President Cyril Ramaphosa's lockdown declared unconstitutional.

Ramaphosa declared a 21-day lockdown last week in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.

But the little-known Hola Bon Renaissance Foundation urgently approached the court on Thursday last week – on the eve of the lockdown – asking it to declare the 21-day lockdown unconstitutional.

The NGO had wanted the court to declare that Covid-19 “poses no serious threat to the country and its people”.

“HBR Foundation believes that Covid-19 cannot be harmful to Africans,” it said.

The apex court on Monday dismissed the application.

“The Constitutional Court has considered the application for direct access to this court on an urgent basis. It has concluded that the application should be dismissed as it bears no reasonable prospects of success,” the court found.


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