POLL | If lockdown was scrapped, would you feel safe going out?

As South Africans await the government's response on some lockdown regulations which were declared by the North Gauteng High Court as “unconstitutional” and “invalid” on Tuesday, it isn't clear what life will be like 14 days from now.

The matter was heard in court on May 28 after it was brought urgently by Liberty Fighters Network, according to TimesLIVE. 

Judge Norman Davis ruled that while the establishment of the state of disaster was valid, some of the regulations were unconstitutional.

He lauded the government's efforts to flatten the Covid-19 curve, but said it had failed to consider the constitutionality of the regulations and their affect on citizens.

Minister of co-operative governance & traditional affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was given 14 days to make the necessary amendments. This means that for now, existing level 3 regulations will remain in place.

Davis was critical of regulations including the exercise curfew, prohibiting hairdressers and informal traders from earning an income, rules on attending funerals, the prevention of night vigils and visiting sick family members.

With funerals, he said cases should be individually assessed instead of instituting a blanket regulation. 

“There is also no rational connection to the stated objectives for the limitation on the degree of familial relationship to a deceased in order to permissibly attend his or her funeral. What if the deceased is a clan elder or the leader of a community or the traditional head of a small village?

“Rather than limit the number of funeral attendees with preference to family members, exclusions are now regulated, arbitrarily ignoring the facts of each case.”

On night vigils, he recommended that they be held under strict conditions such as imposing social distancing and allowing close family members, TimesLIVE reported. 

Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams on Wednesday said the government was still studying the judgment and would provide a full statement once this has been concluded, according to TimesLIVE.