Durban attorneys may join DA fight against lockdown
|Published
DA leader John Steenhuisen File picture: African News Agency (ANA) DA leader John Steenhuisen File picture: African News Agency (ANA)
Durban – A group of Durban attorneys who have demanded an end to the lockdown, as well as threatened to launch a court application challenging the constitutionality of the National Coronavirus Command Council, are now considering joining the DA’s legal fight instead.
Yusuf Ismail, spokesperson for Lawyers for Constitutional Democracy, said the group had taken additional legal counsel regarding the letter of demand it had sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa on May 15, in which it called for an end to the lockdown or a reduction to level 1 and the dissolution of the council.
The group comprises Ismail, Thembinkosi Luthuli, Christo van Rensburg, Delia Turner and Professor Emeritus George Devenish, in their personal capacity.
In their letter, they alleged the council was an “invalid and “authoritarian entity” that was “operating without any parliamentary oversight or constitutional mandate”, and therefore any regulations it passed were “null and void”.
Ismail said on Monday subsequent legal counsel had suggested it was unlikely the courts would “second guess” government policy, as indicated by numerous judgments, including Constitutional Court judgments.
He said the group had been advised to rather challenge specific regulations on the grounds of “rationality, reasonableness and constitutionality”, and that it should “piggy-back” on the DA’s court challenge, as an amicus curiae (friend of the court).
The DA filed an urgent application in the Constitutional Court earlier this month in which interim party leader John Steenhuisen claimed that the lockdown under the Disaster Management Act is unconstitutional.
He said that the act violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers because there is no parliamentary oversight as would be required in a state of emergency.
Ismail said the group had not received any response or an acknowledgement of the letter of demand from government.
“Our next step is to proceed with possibly joining the Democratic Alliance as an amicus curiae. This will circumvent the necessity of multiple applications as well as cost implications. At this stage we are also required to raise funds to brief counsel in this matter,” Ismail said.
Steenhuisen’s spokesperson, Azola Mboniswa, said the DA was waiting for a response from the court regarding its urgent application.