Despite having stepped out of a National State of Disaster due to the COVID-19 pandemic, between 15 March and 23 March 2022, codes and regulations pertaining to the pandemic were published to ensure the ongoing regulation of COVID-19 related matters.
These matters include draft regulations that relate to the surveillance and control of notifiable medical conditions, an Amendment Bill published in terms of the National Health Act on 15 March 2022 by the Department of Health, as per Business Tech.
Now, Cape Town’s Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has come out and rejected the national government’s proposed permanent COVID-19 regulatory regime.
“I have submitted comments on behalf of the City of Cape Town, rejecting the national government’s draft regulations relating to the Surveillance and Control of Notifiable Medical Conditions, which aims to make certain Covid-19-related restrictions a permanent feature of our lives,” Hill-Lewis stated.
According to the mayor, the draft regulations aim to normalise and incorporate the “abnormal ” state of affairs that South Africans have had to endure since March 2020 despite deaths related to COVID-19 remaining relatively low and lockdown restrictions have been lifted across the world.
These proposed regulations will see the state-of-disaster-like powers transferred to the National Health Act, which will be managed by the Health Minister without critical Parliamentary consent.
“Simply put, they are an attempt to make the State of Disaster permanent through ordinary laws, and must be rejected.”
The City of Cape Town has proposed an alternative plan which will see the Department develop and issue evidence-based guidelines for health practitioners and health authorities.
“Throughout the pandemic, the national government demonstrated its inclination to implement haphazard and ever-changing regulations that destroyed livelihoods and unfairly restricted the liberty of South Africans, with no regard for scientific evidence,
The new regulations will mean a constant threat of further irrational decision-making by the national government, which could only be challenged through lengthy legal action,” he continued.
The Mayor has urged the government to abandon its plans and instead, focus on developing and issuing evidence-based guidelines for health practitioners and health authorities.
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Picture: Cape {town} Etc Gallery