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BL Premium reports that Advocate Dali Mpofu, representing Mmusi Maimane and the One SA Movement in the first major legal challenge to the reopening of schools, has accused the state of sending children into a “raging fire” by asking them to return to classrooms as Covid-19 infections soar.
“No responsible government that sticks to its constitutional obligations can do that,” Mpofu argued on Thursday morning in the Pretoria High Court. Maimane and the One SA Movement was seeking to persuade a full bench of the court that the government’s decision to move from alert level 4 to level 3, at the same that it started reopening schools, violated the constitutional rights of children, teachers and caregivers to life, among other things. Mpofu contended that it was “mind-boggling” that the government decided to reopen schools and the economy on the same day. This, he said, resulted in the increased mobility of millions of people and radically increased the risk of Covid-19 spreading. Maimane wants the court to order that the state’s plan to ensure the safety of pupils in schools should be supervised by the courts or an independent body — as the government’s track record strongly suggested these plans would fail. He has used multiple media reports of Covid-19 infections in schools, as well as accounts of inadequate sanitation, to demonstrate that the government’s “lofty plans” were not translating into reality. The government was expected to respond to Mpofu’s arguments later on Thursday.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Karyn Maughan at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page