It is time to end South Africa’s 19-month-long state of disaster – and disband the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), that has seemed to call the shots behind the scenes, says the Institute of Race Relations (IRR).
The NCCC, set up at the declaration of the National State of Disaster on March 15, 2020, over 570 days ago, acts as a super-legislator, abrogating the role of parliamentary oversight, the IRR says.
Given the scientific consensus that, on the balance of probabilities, Covid-19 is destined to become ‘endemic’ – meaning that it will remain in circulation indefinitely – the Institute argues that South Africans should demand that state of disaster and the NCCC that presides over it should be shut down and that regulatory and administration decision-making relating to dealing with Covid-19 in the long term should be subjected to ordinary democratic processes.
The health as well as the legal context of this demand were examined in detail by IRR head of policy research Dr Anthea Jeffery and IRR head of campaigns Gabriel Crouse in an online IRR webinar yesterday, now posted on YouTube.
You can watch it here:
The IRR has also launched a petition – go to https://irr.org.za/campaigns/disband-command-council – to enable South Africans to endorse the call for the disbandment of the NCCC and the restoration of democratic accountability.
Writing on the Daily Friend yesterday, Jeffery pointed out: ‘A state of disaster is justified only when existing law is inadequate to deal with it. The government has now had 19 months to develop better legislation and jettison the current [Disasater Management Act] DMA. However, it has made no attempt to do so, presumably because the DMA suits it very well.
‘The key problem with the DMA is its lack of safeguards. This is particularly evident when DMA provisions are compared with the rules governing a state of emergency, as set out in section 37 of the Constitution.’
Jeffery said: ‘Under the DMA, a state of disaster generally ends after three months. However, Dlamini-Zuma may instead extend it, for a month at a time, simply by notice in the Government Gazette. Again, no parliamentary approval is needed and monthly extensions can continue without limit.’
She added: ‘On this basis, the state of disaster could continue for many more months or even years. And the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) – which seems to be calling the shots behind the scenes – will continue far into the future.’