Court ruling: food distribution can resume like before
The DA has won its first legal victory against the ANC governments COVID-19 response, restoring the rights of NGOs to feed the poor and destitute. The High Court has ordered that government is not allowed to prevent people from exercising their existing rights to distribute and receive food over the next month. The full legal challenge will be heard on 19 June.
The court has ordered Minister Zulu to bring this to the attention of social development officials in her department and MECs in all of the provinces. The Commissioner of police has also been ordered to bring this order to the attention of all police officials.
Judge Fabricius ruled that South Africans have a right to life, dignity, the right not to be tortured, treated in a humane manner and may not be humiliated – this is not negotiable.
He further ruled that the police and military may use the minimum amount of restraint in the execution of their duties and that the military is poorly trained for the task. Fabricius also said that the public has no faith in the government and the way they are handling the situation, criticizing the vague lockdown regulations and poor communication to inform citizens of these rules.
See full judgement here, to protect yourself against abusive officials: https://bit.ly/FoodCourtOrder
This means that for the next four weeks food distribution by NGOs can continue as normal before the matter finally comes to court.
The DA brought the case after draft regulations started being enforced 3 weeks ago. These regulations shut down soup kitchens and placed stiff regulations on the distribution of food parcels.
This stopped food reaching thousands of hungry people as food relief NGO’s were threatened with arrest if they did not stop.
“Minister Zulu defended the regulations, saying relief needed to be coordinated. This is clearly delusional as her department cannot even properly perform its current function, let alone instantly build a proper distribution network to millions of people,” the DA concluded.
