Durban – A Constitutional Court battle was looming if President Cyril Ramaphosa did not end the national Covid-19 lockdown, the National Peace Commission (NPC) said yesterday.
Durban businessman Peter Munns said the commission had sent a letter of demand to the president and Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, in which it alleged that the implementation of the lockdown was “procedurally irregular and unconstitutional” and contrary to the government’s Batho Pele principles.
The organisation’s attorney, Thembinkosi Luthuli, said the NPC was formed in 2015 “to build social, cultural and racial cohesion in South Africa for the purposes of accountability and transparency on the part of all public servants”.
He said it represented “a wide sector of civil society” including religious, business and traditional leaders in the formal and informal sectors, as well as “those living in informal settlements who have been negatively affected by the decisions taken by the present government”.
“Extensive research has shown that there is clearly a conflict of interest and opinion on this Covid-19 virus and that it requires investigation and responsible action on the part of all governments,” Luthuli said in the letter.
“The minister of health, in particular, is requested to provide the reasons and justification for an extreme national programme of safety and security, when this was clearly a medical crisis that did not require the deployment of the military or the imposition of a police state.
