The Pretoria High Court judgment forcing the closure of the government’s Zithabiseni quarantine camp ‘is a damning indictment of the government’s attempts to exert centralised control over South Africa’s response to the crisis, and underlines the necessity for alternative approaches’, the IRR said in a statement.
Acknowledging the court victory attained by AfriForum in the closure of the camp, the IRR said it was a ‘victory for the freedom of ordinary South Africans from unfair and unjust government fiat’.
The court ordered that the quarantine camp could only be re-opened upon meeting World Health Organisation standards of hygiene and being fit for human habitation.
The solution, the IRR said, was to adopt the Emergency Covid-19 Isolated Care Voucher proposal contained in its comprehensive policy response framework, Friends In Need – Covid-19: How South Africa Can Save #LivesAndLivelihoods, published 25 March.
This offered a solution in cases where people were unable to self-isolate at home or might pose a risk of spreading infection. Vouchers would be issued by government to venues offering accommodation – hotels, B&Bs, and lodges, for example – enabling them to accommodate people in need of alternative housing due to Covid-19. The additional benefit of this approach is that it would provide much-needed financial support for South Africa’s struggling tourism and hospitality sectors
Said IRR Deputy Head of Policy Research Hermann Pretorius: The failure at Zithabiseni is a failure of the fundamental ideological approach government is taking in exerting centralised control over the lives of South Africans.
‘This approach has repeatedly been proved to be ineffective and to result in the denial of liberty. The people detained at the Zithabiseni quarantine camp have joined the ranks of too many others who can attest to this.’
The IRR called on the government to accept the clear limitations of its capacities and acknowledge and endorse the capacities of ordinary South Africans in business, charities and NGOs to solve problems governments too often make worse.