Pretoria - The decision by the government to close some of the country’s beaches in the wake of the Covid-19 second wave will come under legal scrutiny.
AfriForum is set to challenge the revised lockdown level 1 regulations while the DA has also threatened to approach the courts.
The parties, among other concerned sectors, say the closure of the beaches would be devastating for the already crippled financial sector.
The government has today to file opposing papers in the AfriForum matter.
While no date has been yet set for the extremely urgent application, the lobby group will ask the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to declare the newly-promulgated Covid-19 regulations relating to the closing of some beaches unconstitutional.
President Cyril told the nation on Monday that the “national family meeting” beaches in the Eastern Cape, as well as along the Garden Route, would be closed from December 16 (yesterday) to January 3 and those in KwaZulu-Natal on December 16, 25, 26 and 31 as well as from January 1 to 3.
Beaches in the Northern Cape and Western Cape provinces (excluding the Garden Route) will, however, be open to the public.
AfriForum says the limiting of access to beaches that are public property amounts to the restriction of a basic human right.
In terms of the Constitution, a basic human right such as freedom of movement can only be restricted if it is justifiable and supported by generally acceptable legislation, it said.
AfriForum will argue that the government can thus not have different regulations for different beaches.
AfriForum agrees that mass gatherings on beaches must be prohibited seeing that no physical distancing is maintained during these gatherings. “But it is unconstitutional and discriminatory to close certain beaches given the enormous economic impact it will have on coastal towns especially,” it said.
Its stance is that the December holiday is an opportunity for businesses to recover their economies to an extent and the closing of the beaches will lead to irreparable damage for the businesspeople of these towns.
AfriForum said visiting the beach was a form of recreation that took place outdoors and exposed people to the sun. This contributed to a healthier immune system. The alternative was that people would frequent places like shopping centres and restaurants that held a much higher risk of spreading the virus.
One of the applicants in the AfriForum application is the Great Brak River Business Forum. Its chairperson Wilhelm de Wet said in an affidavit that Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma had failed to invite and consider submissions.
Neither did she act in a manner which was lawful and rational when she promulgated these restrictions, De Wet said.
This application was being brought in the interests of thousands of people involved in and employed by sectors directly dependent on festive season activities revolving around beaches and coastal regions in the Western Cape province, particularly the Garden Route, he said.
The regulations were imposed immediately after the announcement by Ramaphosa.
De Wet said the Garden Route was the seventh most popular tourist destination in South Africa. The industry was linked to beachgoers and to deny them beach access, the main pillar of the tourism industry along the Garden Route, would stifle or thoroughly throttle the tourism, travel and accommodation industry and economy as a whole, he said.
The DA has sent a letter to the government asking for justification of why it was decided to close beaches in the Garden Route over the festive season. The government was given until yesterday afternoon to respond. If it had not, the DA said it would go to court.
Pretoria News