Two of the country’s high-profile advocates have written a legal letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa to request clarity on the powers wielded by the National Command Council (NCC) in charge of the response to the novel coronavirus.
In a nine-page letter through RHK Attorneys, advocates Nazeer Cassim and Erin Dianne Richards say they are concerned about the possible risks of constitutional and democratic malfunctioning.
Two of the country’s high-profile advocates have written a legal letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa to request clarity on the powers wielded by the National Command Council (NCC) in charge of the response to the novel coronavirus.
In a nine-page letter through RHK Attorneys, advocates Nazeer Cassim and Erin Dianne Richards say they are concerned about the possible risks of constitutional and democratic malfunctioning.
The two have threatened to take the matter to their ethical bodies for possible litigation, if the president fails to respond.
The advocates say that, from the information available to them, the NCC appears to be displacing constitutional and statutory functionaries under the Disaster Management Act (DMA). This is compromising parliamentary oversight, opening the door to potential unchecked abuses or excesses of State power.
The two advocates question the information disseminated by the media, pointing out that statements made by ministers are, at times, contradictory.
This concern was shared by the DA earlier this month, when it called for National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise to set up an oversight committee over the executive during the lockdown. The request was rejected by Modise.
“Perhaps most unsettling is the impact that an unlawful exercise of executive power by the NCC would have on parliamentary oversight: shifting executive power from yourself and 28 ministers to yourself and 19 ministers throws the parliamentary oversight mechanisms into complete chaos because it interrupts the ordinary functioning of portfolios and their committees.
“It accordingly appears that the NCC is exercising at least two forms of power: the first of these being statutory regulation-making powers and the second of these being executive powers of coordination and management of the disaster. We see no lawful basis for the NCC to interfere in the making of regulations, nor do we see any lawful basis for the body to exercise any other statutory regulation-making powers under the DMA,” the letter reads.
They argue that only the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has the powers to issue regulations after consultation with the relevant cabinet member, adding that no other body has any authority to determine regulations, interfere in the process of the determination of regulations, or revise regulations.
