ActionSA’s Request to Intervene in National Health Regulations has been Granted – Case Set Down

31 May 2022

ActionSA is pleased to confirm that it has been granted approval to join the legal action against the Minister of Health set down for 25-27 July 2022.

This follows an application submitted on 18 May to be admitted as amicus curiae.

ActionSA’s interventions arises from the Minister gazetting an extension to the period for public comment while, simultaneously, publishing Regulations to the Surveillance and the Control of Notifiable Medical Conditions: Amendment 2022 in the Government Gazette.

The applicants as well as the State have now consented to ActionSA’s request to join in the matter.

ActionSA has reviewed the papers filed in this matter and believes that there are issues of Constitutional importance that merit the Court’s attention. At the heart of this issue are the South African people and the extent to which their freedoms have been treated casually by a power-hungry government throughout this pandemic.

ActionSA is founded on the principle of the rule of law. Recognising the systemic failures of our government, we have deemed it necessary to develop our strategic litigation capacity to fight to protect the rights of ordinary South Africans where their rights are infringed upon or threatened.

Our focus will be on, inter alia, the following aspects of the above-mentioned Regulations:

The unconstitutionality of the proposed Regulations vis-à-vis the rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights as weighed against all the factors contained in section 36 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (the so-called “limitations clause”);

The lack of accountability concerning the Minister, with respect to the effect, nature and manner in which the Regulations were passed;

The seeming ability for the Minister to amend and create legislation on an ad hoc basis, which based on legislation as well as the rudimentary principles of natural justice, appear to be ultra vires;

The restrictions on gatherings and movement (which impacts upon fundamental freedoms guaranteed to all who live within the country’s borders);

Masking mandates and their continued irrational application;

Restrictions on the entry to public spaces (including the freedom of movement and the freedom of bodily autonomy and integrity);

The procedural unfairness inherent in the process.

This matter extends to the rights and freedoms of all who live within the country’s borders. If the regulations are allowed to stand as they currently exist, such would constitute a breach in the fabric of our Constitutional order, as they are patently unconstitutional.

ActionSA will continue the fight to protect the rights of all South Africans while we work tirelessly to campaign to remove the government in 2024 that threatens these rights with these regulations. 

Issued by Gill Benson, Head of Strategic Litigation, ActionSA, 31 May 2022