Not-for-profit organisation Solidarity is consulting with lawyers to compel government to change the current national lockdown to a regional level during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The movement argues that regions with high infection rates could be relaxed to level 1.

According to the Oxford Government Response Stringency Index, South Africa has one of the harshest lockdown measures. 

To date South Africa has reported 15 515 cases of Covid-19 with 264 deaths. The country has also reported 7 006 recoveries.

Solidarity says the current lockdown measures will not prevent the expected peak rate of infections, but will rather result in more people being unemployed.

Solidarity chairperson Flip Buys blamed the ANC for “sabotaging people’s jobs” with the lockdown.

“It appears that government’s proposed fragmentation of the lockdown into different regions and provinces was merely lip service. It is inconceivable that the Limpopo and North West Province, which respectively have 17 and 29 active cases province-wide, are still on Level 4 of the lockdown. Furthermore, Mpumalanga has 33 and the Northern Cape 12 active cases, while people across those provinces cannot go to work to provide food for their children,” Buys said.

He questioned why provinces with a low infection rate could not be relaxed to level 1 lockdown and be monitored.

He said it was time to urgently relax the measures in regions with lower infection rates and to allow as many people as possible to return to work safely.