The inference Judge Norman Davis draws after the declaration of a national state of disaster was that little or no regard was given to the extent of the impact of individual regulations on the Constitutional rights of people and whether the extent of the limitation of their rights was justifiable or not.
He said while lockdown regulations prohibited people from leaving their home to visit, up to 50 people "armed with certified copies of death certificates may even cross provincial borders to attend the funeral of one who has departed and is no longer in need of support".
Davis found that while the minister's declaration of a national state of disaster was rational, the regulations promulgated for Levels 4 and 3 in a substantial number of instances are "not rationally connected to the objectives of slowing the rate of infection or limiting the spread thereof".
The government, in a statement following the judgment, said the court suspended the declaration of the invalidity for 14 days, meaning that current Level 3 regulations remain in operation for now.
"The court has further directed the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, in consultation with the relevant ministers, to review, amend and republish the regulations with 'due consideration to the limitation each regulation has on the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights'," Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said.
