Lobby group, AfriForum, has won a costs order against the extension of the government’s national state of disaster to curb the spread of COVID-19.
In February 2022, AfriForum served court documents in which the Pretoria High Court was requested to declare the state of disaster as invalid and unlawful.
Despite the organisation’s impending legal action, the government extended the state of disaster for a further month on 15 March 2022.
However, the government soon changed its mind and suspended the national state of disaster on 4 April 2022.
AfriForum also took legal action on 9 May 2022 against these amendments to regulations of the National Health Act and the government was forced to scrap these regulations as well.
Ernst van Zyl is Campaign Officer for Strategy and Content at AfriForum.
“During the entire COVID-19 lockdown, AfriForum fought strongly against the government’s power abuses and cruel policies with many successes. The state of disaster case was just one of many cases that AfriForum launched and won in the interests of its members and the wider public. It is thanks to our and other civil society organisations’ sustained pressure that the government has finally abolished the state of disaster – the costs order in AfriForum’s favour confirms this.”
