The party has turned to the courts to challenge the lawfulness of specific lockdown regulations related to the military-enforced night curfew.
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola’s response to parliament that the daily curfew was for police to prepare for social distancing is not good enough, the DA has argued in an urgent court application.
In court papers in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, DA MP and former prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach said the party opposed the “draconian” limitations on the rights of South Africans that came at great economic cost. “Indeed, the scientific consensus is that it is far more difficult to spread Covid-19 outside than inside. It is only being outside in a certain way that increases a risk of spreading Covid-19,” she said, arguing that instead of restricting only the types of outdoor activity that risk spreading Covid-19, Dlamini-Zuma “has placed all of South Africans under house arrest between 8pm and 5am everyday”.
“There could be many other points of convergence in places across the country. The police had said that they would need time to be ready to deal with social distancing and so, in the meantime, they required a restriction of movement so that the police knew, from 8pm until 5am, they would only be dealing with those who had special permits,” Lamola told parliament.
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