Lockdown Regulations Unconstitutional and Invalid - Pretoria High Court Judgement

The Judgment given in the Pretoria High Court that the lock down regulations are unconstitutional and invalid, given 2 June 2020 is a turning point in my opinion.

Government must serve the people and act in their best interest and protect them during the Covid 19 pandemic. People understood that doing a hard lock down for 21 days would move the curve (peaking of the number of infections) to a later date which would allow government to get health facilities ready and also create additional temporary health facilities for additional capacity. 

However it became clear that some ministers saw this as an opportunity to rid the world from “evil” smokers, get us all to dress better (T-Shirts worn under shirts and no open toe shoes) and teach these +/- 230k “criminal” citizens with fines and brutal arrests who the real people in charge is.

But are government officials not public servants? Should they not serve? So many good people answered the call and served on the front lines in hospitals and support services while they tried to minimize the initial cases impact and spread of the virus while capacity was enhanced to deal with the future spike in infections. They are the true heroes.

Also those who started feeding schemes and nutritional support programs to help relieve the impact of people losing their jobs, income or access other ways of money and food. South Africans actually do care for each other as the above shows.

The court in my view confirmed the fact that we are adults and can be empowered with information and be trusted to behave in such a way as to limit our exposure or exposing other to the virus by following rules.

These rules however needs to be consistent and ministers must not abuse their power and impact on our human rights. Parliament must also not be side-lined, as it is our ultimate custodian and protector of the constitution.

I believe people got concerned when government officials started attacking people when they asked questions to get a better understanding of why certain things / action were prohibited.

If decisions were logical, consistent and necessary it is easy to explain and share why decisions were made. People get nervous when certain Ministers displayed subtle hints of being authoritarians and enjoyed it.

Total Power corrupts totally!

Please take a stand and voice your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.

So power to the people, but please stay safe!