The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes that the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has swooped in at the last minute to rescue Trade, Industry and Competition Minister, Ebrahim Patel from a legal challenge which we were set to announce at 2pm today.
Dlamini-Zuma has hurriedly amended the lockdown regulations to explicitly ban the sale of cooked foods in an attempt to put a lid on the public humiliation Minister Patel was subjected to after he stated on the 16th of April that “as the law stands”, the sale of cooked food was banned. This was clearly unlawful and Patel had to rely on his Cabinet colleague to cure his legal nightmare.
The DA was set to approach the North Gauteng High Court and lodge urgent papers to have Patel’s comments declared unlawful as well as seek a personal costs order against him.
Today’s amendment now makes what was illegal, legal and is short sighted and mean spirited, especially for frontline health care workers, members of the security services, essential service workers and transport workers like truck drivers who rely on cooked food due to the work they are doing.
This will also be particularly devastating for the elderly who may be unable to cook food due to their frailty.
I will now write to Patel through our lawyers requesting the reasons for this ban on cooked and prepared food which should be provided to us by midday on Tuesday, 21 April 2020. We will then be able to decide on our next course of action.
The DA remains committed to ensuring that the executive does not overreach its mandate as we have seen. It is an important test case in the lockdown to ensure that Ministers treat citizens with the respect they deserve and are held to account for their actions.