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Freedom Front Plus has announced its intention to introduce a new bill to parliament, which proposes restrictions around the extension of a national state of disaster.
In an explanatory summary, the FF Plus said that the national state of disaster introduced as part of the coronavirus lockdown, as well as accompanying regulations, had serious consequences and a negative impact on the lives of all South African citizens.
“The basic human rights of citizens were restricted and certain behaviors and actions were prohibited. The economic consequences were disastrous and millions of people lost their jobs.
“The Disaster Management Act currently does not provide adequate legislative accountability and oversight over published regulations in terms of it, the duration of a state of disaster, nor with respect to the extent of a state of disaster.
“In a constitutional democracy, any legislation that has such serious consequences and that affects all citizens and their human rights should be subject to greater legislative responsibility and oversight.
The FF Plus said the purpose of the bill is to amend the Disaster Management Act to amend the duration of a state of disaster.
The bill also seeks to stipulate that only the National Assembly, the provincial legislature or the municipal council can decide to issue a declaration of a state of national, provincial or local disaster respectively and for how long, he said.
The bill also provides:
- The majorities required in the National Assembly, the provincial legislature and a municipal council to extend a state of national, provincial or local disaster respectively;
- That a resolution to extend a state of national, provincial or local disaster can only be adopted after a public debate;
- Supervision of the National Assembly on a national state of disaster and supervision of a provincial legislature on a provincial state of disaster.
The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, extended the state of national disaster for another month on October 14.
The government declared a national state of disaster under Section 27 (1) and Section 27 (2) of the Disaster Management Act on March 15, 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
While the state of disaster originally expired on June 15, the law states that the Cogta minister can extend it by notice in the bulletin for one month at a time before it expires.
In a directive published on Wednesday (October 14), Dlamini-Zuma said the extension takes into account the need to continue to augment existing legislation and contingency arrangements undertaken by state bodies to address the impact of the Covid disaster. 19.
The state of disaster will now expire on November 15.
Read: 4,000 New Covid-19 Cases in Two Days in South Africa, As Second Wave Concerns Raise
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