A group of Durban attorneys who have demanded an end to the lockdown, as well as threatening to launch a court application challenging the constitutionality of the National Coronavirus Command Council, are now considering joining the DA’s legal fight instead.

Yusuf Ismail, spokesperson for Lawyers for Constitutional Democracy, reportedly told The Mercury that the group had taken additional legal counsel regarding the letter of demand it had sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa on 15 May, in which it called for an end to the lockdown or a reduction to level one and the dissolution of the council.

The group comprises Ismail, Thembinkosi Luthuli, Christo van Rensburg, Delia Turner and Professor Emeritus George Devenish, in their personal capacities.

In their letter, they alleged that the council was an ‘invalid and ‘authoritarian entity’ that was ‘operating without any parliamentary oversight or constitutional mandate’, and therefore any regulations it passed were ‘null and void’.

Ismail said the legal counsel had suggested that it was unlikely the courts would ‘second guess’ government policy, as indicated by numerous judgments, including Constitutional Court judgments.

He said the group had been advised to rather challenge specific regulations on the grounds of ‘rationality, reasonableness and constitutionality’, and that it should ‘piggy-back’ on the DA’s court challenge, as an amicus curiae.

The DA filed an urgent application in the Constitutional Court this month in which interim party leader John Steenhuisen claimed that the lockdown under the Disaster Management Act is unconstitutional, notes The Mercury.

He said that the Act violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers because there is no parliamentary oversight as would be required in a State of Emergency.

Ismail said the group had not received any response or an acknowledgement of the letter of demand from government.

‘Our next step is to proceed with possibly joining the DA as an amicus curiae. This will circumvent the necessity of multiple applications as well as cost implications. At this stage we are also required to raise funds to brief counsel in this matter,’ Ismail said.

Steenhuisen’s spokesperson Azola Mboniswa said the DA was waiting for a response from the court regarding its urgent application.

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