AfriForum and the public participation platform DearSA have launched a court application challenging the government’s regulations for managing Covid-19 after the end of the state of disaster.

In the application filed on Monday, the organisations asked the high court in Pretoria to review and set aside the decision of the minister of health to publish regulations relating to the surveillance and control of notifiable medical conditions which were published on May 4.

The organisations also want the court to declare the regulations to be inconsistent with the constitution and invalid.

AfriForum and DearSA brought the challenge after the health department gazetted the health regulations last week.

“This means that the government can permanently enforce mask mandates and restrictions on gatherings. The regulations also give Joe Phaahla, the minister of health, the sole authority to determine how long such regulations should be implemented and when they can be lifted,” AfriForum said in a statement.

AfriForum said it and DearSA also questioned the validity of the public participation process followed by the department before the regulations were implemented.

The two organisations said they submitted more than 310,000 public comments combined.

“Citizens of this country are not pawns on the government’s chess board to be pushed around whenever power-hungry officials feel like it.

“AfriForum will fight these regulations in the highest courts, if necessary, to ensure that citizens’ rights are fully restored. Citizens are fed up with government’s constant encroachment on their personal freedoms,” AfriForum’s campaigns manager Jacques Broodryk said.

In their application, AfriForum and DearSA said if the minister of health intends to oppose this application, he must notify them in writing  on or before May 17.

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