South African court rules lockdown restrictions unconstitutional and invalid

A South African court has found some coronavirus lockdown regulations imposed by the government "unconstitutional and invalid".

The judge picked out rules around funerals, informal workers, and the amount of exercise as "irrational".

The government was given 14 days to overhaul the regulations.

South Africa initially had some of the world's most restrictive lockdown measures.

The country has 35,812 confirmed cases and 755 deaths.

The case was filed by the Liberty Fighters Network and the Hola Bona Renaissance Foundation.

The high court in the capital, Pretoria, ruled that the regulations were not connected to slowing the rate of infection or limiting its spread.

"The regulations... in a substantial number of instances are not rationally connected to the objectives of slowing the rate of infection or limiting the spread thereof," the written judgement read.

Judge Norman Davis argued it was wrong to allow people to travel to attend funerals but not to earn their livelihoods by street trading, as many South Africans do.

The government said it will review the regulations but in the meantime the current lockdown regulations will apply.

Police have opened almost 230,000 cases for violating lockdown regulations since the beginning of lockdown on March 26, according to the Police Minister Bheki Cele.

Source: BBC

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