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FF+ wants amendments to Disaster Management Act to require 60% vote

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The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) says it will propose that amendments to the Disaster Management Act should have a similar provision as with a state of emergency which requires a 60% vote in Parliament. The FF+ says these proposals will feature in its Private Members Bill to amend the Disaster Management Act.

Party leader Pieter Groenewald says he hopes the Bill will be published in October.

Cabinet has yet again endorsed Co-operative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s proposal to further extend the national state of disaster to the 15 October.

Groenewald says this is problematic.

“They are going to extend it now for another month and the Freedom Front Plus objects to that because of the fact that there is no accountability from government towards Parliament for this extension. In terms of the Disaster (Management) Act, they can extend the national disaster on a monthly basis unendedly as they wish. If you compare that to a state of emergency, the President would have gone to Parliament now and ask permission and he would have had to obtain a 60% majority in Parliament for the extension. That is why I am going to submit a private members bill for an amendment where we want the same precautions and the same accountability towards Parliament as in the case of a state of emergency.”

Below is the statement by cabinet on the extension of the national lockdown: 

‘End the National State of Disaster’ 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Saturday called on government to put an end to the constantly extended national state of disaster.

The party’s Shadow Minister for Cooperative Governance Haniff Hoosen said all South Africans by now fully understand and are compliant with the lockdown regulations and the national state of disaster should end.

He added that government should do away with the lockdown so that business and tourism can get going again.

“South Africans have understood what protocols need to be implemented in order for them to reduce the spread of the virus by taking the necessary precautions of sanitizing their hands, wearing their masks…Businesses in the country have become accustomed to those protocols. It has served its purpose and there’s no reason why we need to continue with that lockdown.”

DA and the FF challenge the National State of Disaster: 

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