CAPE TOWN, South Africa (LifeSiteNews) — A set of new draft laws introduced in South Africa could make permanent some of the liberty-crushing measures imposed on citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic, and enshrine into law a type of medical caste system formally excluding the unvaccinated from public life.
“Under new draft laws published by the government this week, the National Health Act is seeking to enforce some mask wearing and social distancing rules on a regular basis,” The South African reported on Thursday.
According to the report, even after South Africa emerges from its COVID-inspired “state of disaster,” which the government has extended for yet another month, mask mandates for public indoor spaces and social distancing requirements would persist under the proposed legislation so long as COVID is considered a “notifiable disease.”
Directives included in the draft laws include maximum capacity requirements and a “compliance officer” on-staff for all customer-facing businesses, mask mandates for all public areas including public transportation, a requirement to make hand sanitizer available upon entry to any public establishment, and continued encouragement to work from home.
Several of the directives appear to have been drafted under the assumption that COVID will continue to occasionally reappear in its “pandemic phase,” necessitating the continual reimplementation of tighter social controls ostensibly to mitigate the virus’ spread.
Set to be considered for final approval in mid-April, the proposals would give government leaders the power to reimpose curfews, lock down the country or specific localities, restrict religious services, cultural practices, and sporting events, and even ban alcohol.
Moreover, the draft laws could continue to punish South Africans who have opted out of getting the experimental COVID-19 jabs.
Under the new draft laws, unvaccinated citizens could be banned from all indoor events with more than 1,000 people and all outdoor events with more than 2,000 people. They could also be forced to pay for a PCR test to leave or re-enter the country, a requirement not imposed upon the vaccinated.
The proposals come as only about half of all eligible South Africans have gotten their full regimen of the COVID-19 drugs.
While those who have gotten two doses of the injections are currently considered “fully vaccinated,” it’s unclear whether more jabs will be required in the future. Pharmaceutical company heads and public health experts are continually advocating for additional shots as the drugs’ efficacy rates have been shown to sharply decline over a period of months.
South Africa’s legislative proposals have drawn sharp criticism from South African Democrat Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen, who has vowed to fight the country’s decision to extend its two-year-long “state of disaster” by yet another month.
The opposition party leader also intends to combat the new legislative proposals which would make permanent the restrictions placed on citizens under the auspices of public health.
DA leader John Steenhuisen says the party intends to take government to court to challenge its decision to keep the country under the National State of Disaster. https://t.co/azAYpWi8yw #nationalstateofdisaster
— SABC News (@SABCNews) March 17, 2022
According to Steenhuisen, the proposed legislation which would embed COVID restrictions into the legal framework of the country would mean that “South Africa will be under a State of Disaster indefinitely, and that the lockdown is becoming permanent.”
“We will not allow our democracy to be suspended indefinitely in favour of rule by decree, with no democratic checks and balances,” Steenhuisen said. “I have today instructed our attorneys to bring an urgent court challenge to Tuesday’s irrational and unreasonable extension of the State of Disaster.”
According to Steenhuisen, his party is set to launch further legal challenges against the government if it attempts to enshrine COVID measures into law in April following the removal of its temporary “state of disaster.”
“The ANC government is no longer fighting the spread of Covid,” Steenhuisen said in a video broadcast Thursday. “It is fighting to hold on to the powers it has become accustomed to.”