An Institute of Race Relations (IRR) team, led by Gabriel Crouse, Head of Campaigns at the Institute, yesterday visited the Union Buildings to hand over a petition, calling for the ending of the State of Disaster and a return to Parliamentary oversight.
Over 16 000 South Africans signed the petition which was delivered to the Presidency yesterday.
The petition made the following demands:
- End the State of Disaster;
- Disband the National Coronavirus Command Council; and
- Amend the Disaster Management Act to protect Parliament in the future.
Said Crouse: ‘The National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) is a rudimentary dictatorship in both ancient and technical senses of the term. Parliament’s oversight has been blinded in one eye, specifically blinding scrutiny into the NCCC and its affiliates, while the latter have seized Parliament’s power to make the de facto law of the land.
‘Can the Presidency or Department Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Ministry name one good thing the government did during the fourth wave that required a “State of Disaster”? Moreover, what did the NCCC do during the fourth wave that required “State of Disaster” declarations throughout the third trough, which lasted roughly three months, with minimal cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from Covid-19?’
The IRR’s intervention comes as the Department of Health announced yesterday that it would be meeting in the coming week to discuss the lifting of the State of Disaster. Health minister, Joe Phaahla, also said yesterday that most provinces had seen the peak of their fourth wave and that Gauteng had officially exited its fourth wave.
After delivering the petition Crouse said: ‘Dictatorial emergency powers are intoxicatingly hard to give up, but that is what the Constitution requires, and that is what our petitioners demand.’