DURBAN - An online petition calling for the removal of Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has garnered over 100 000 signatures.
The move comes after media reports claimed on Friday afternoon that the Minister was pushing for banning the sale of booze and smokes until lockdown Level 1.
News24 reported
that Cooperative Governance Minister
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
has proposed to the National Coronavirus Command Council that alcohol and tobacco only be allowed again at level 1.
Although the government has not formally responded to the claims, Presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko said via twitter: “We are still shocked by the toxic obsession with Minister Dlamini-Zuma and the consistent campaign to single her out and place her before the lynch mob.”
The country is set to move to level 3 lockdown from 1 June, where the sale of tobacco and alcohol will be allowed again, but, if recent media reports are anything to go by, this may not happen as hoped.
The petition on Change.org started by
Caro-Lynn Wilson
states that Dlamini-Zuma under the National Disaster Act is rewriting laws for her ‘own personal gain and power’.
In it, Wilson says that Dlamini-Zuma is “stripping South African citizens of their human rights”.
“Ms Dlamini-Zuma in her current position is not fit for writing these laws with her underlying personal issues and vindictive mindset. She blatantly does not hold each and every citizen of South Africa interest at bay which is humanly unjust. Please let this petition show that we as South African citizens still have the right to fight back and will not stand for such immoral equality, our voices won't be diminished under a time our lives matter,” she said.
The National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) is expected to meet again next Tuesday and, in the meantime, the agreed upon regulations are being finalised by the relevant departments.
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