FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed logo for Twitter is seen in this picture illustration made in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on January 26, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
(Reuters) – Twitter Inc said on Tuesday that it appointed Patrick Pichette as chair of the social network’s board of directors, replacing Omid Kordestani.
Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva
The Philippines has suspended its plan to terminate a key defense pact with the United States, Manila’s top diplomat announced Tuesday, after President Rodrigo Duterte in early 2020 threatened to pull his country out of the bilateral agreement.
In a message posted on Twitter, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. announced the suspension of the Philippine move and posted a copy of a letter that his department had sent to the American Embassy in Manila about the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement.
In the letter, which was dated Monday, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs indicated that its decision in February to scrap the VFA was “hereby suspended†due to “political and other developments in the region,†and that Manila had decided to hold off for six months on its planned withdrawal.
Locsin said he had issued the diplomatic note to the U.S. envoy to Manila, and it had “been received by Washington, and well at that.â€
“The abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement has been suspended upon the president’s instruction,†Locsin said in his tweets.
The American embassy said it welcomed the development.
“Our longstanding alliance has benefited both countries, and we look forward to continued close security and defense cooperation with the Philippines,†the embassy said in a statement posted on its website Tuesday.
In late January, the Philippine president threatened to terminate the pact with Washington after Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, a former national police chief who had led the Duterte administration’s controversial war on illegal drugs, said the United States had revoked his American visa.
The VFA has allowed large-scale joint military drills with U.S. forces, which defense analysts said were vital to the Philippines as it faces a challenge from China over territorial claims in the South China Sea. Apart from the Philippines and China, the potentially mineral-rich waterway is claimed in whole or in part by Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan.
For nearly two decades, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been negotiating a code of conduct to regulate behavior in the South China Sea. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has carried out freedom of navigation flights and sail throughs in the sea region, amid Chinese naval movements and other actions there.
Soon after the Philippines informed Washington of the VFA termination in February, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was not upset by Manila’s decision to terminate the military agreement because it would mean money savings for America.
“Well I never minded that very much, to be honest. We helped the Philippines very much. We helped them defeat ISIS. I don’t really mind if they would like to do that, it will save a lot of money. My views are different from others,†the U.S. president said at the time, referring to pro-Islamic State militants operating in the southern Philippines.
Since taking office in June 2016, Duterte had warned of cutting military ties with the U.S., but his rhetoric later softened after Trump took office in January 2017.
Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
“I sat down several times to write this letter, but stopped each time. My eyes welling up with tears. This is personal,” Zeitlin wrote.
Zeitlin reported that stores across the country were damaged from New York to San Francisco, but viewed the destruction as secondary to the broader issue.
Tapestry is making changes to address these inequalities, said Zeitlin, and over the weekend leadership worked to “convene a number of social justice, legal, and corporate entities to formulate a longer-term plan for addressing systemic inequality” in areas like health, economic opportunity, and public safety.
“We hope to join with government, but events of this past week make it clear that we cannot wait,” he wrote in the letter.
“I grew up in the segregated south and remember stories my parents shared about living in the Jim Crow South,” wrote Ellison. “So, I have personal understanding of the fear and frustration that many of you are feeling.”
Ellison reiterated the company’s zero tolerance for racism and his commitment to fostering an environment of safety. Leadership will have new resources to better support employee and communities, the letter states.
“At Lowe’s, we are committed to helping people make their homes better, and today, we recognize that our homes extend beyond our walls, and into our neighborhood, communities and country,” said Ellison.
“What the African American community sees in that videotape is that this African American man, who could be me or any other African American man, is being treated as less than human,” Frazier told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Frazier grew up in the inner city of Philadelphia in the 1960s during the time when Martin Luther King, Jr. was leading protests. Frazier said he was part of a handful of kids chosen by the city to be bused 90 minutes to white schools to get “a rigorous education,” where which he was just one of nine black students.
Frazier says he was one of the lucky ones afforded an opportunity that set him on a different trajectory in life. But he noted the “huge opportunity gaps” still exist today.
“It is the responsibility of corporate America to bridge those gaps,” Frazier said. “If we don’t try to create opportunities for these people to be employed — joblessness creates hopelessness.”
Roger Ferguson is the CEO of TIAA, a retirement services company.
“Personally, I am outraged by the recent incidents of racism, violence and police brutality against members of the African American community. The haunting video of Mr. Floyd’s last breaths is a sobering reflection of this national crisis,” Ferguson said in a statement to CNN.
Ferguson’s father was a cartographer for the U.S. Army. He says his family didn’t have a lot of money but had a fascination for banks and investments and they often talked about it. Ferguson attended Harvard where he studied economics and cleaned bathrooms at the dorms. He became CEO of TIAA in 2008 during the financial crisis after serving as Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System.
“Particularly with the pandemic issues we are confronting in 2020, this is a time when we must embrace our differences and become more inclusive,” Ferguson told CNN of the disparities facing people of color. “No group should ever be targeted for racism, harassment or other form of discrimination. At TIAA, we are committed to playing our part to constructively engage as difference makers, consistent with our guiding values and, indeed, our legacy of inclusive leadership.”
On Friday Ferguson along with the Executive Committee of TIAA sent a letter to employees addressing the deaths of Lloyd, Arbery, and Taylor.
“Incidents like this bring to light the fear, inequality and concerns of racism that still pose a threat to our humanity,” the letter states. The team encouraged employees to take part in their Business Resource Groups which “help educate allies about the experiences of others and how they can support their colleagues.”
If you didn’t know, the words Blackout Tuesday has been trending on social media. The words, that maybe don’t mean much at first glance, are packed with meaning and represent a movement that is burning in the hearts of many, especially now.
Blackout Tuesday is a movement that has caught massive traction in the last week. This comes after a man by the name of George Floyd died after a police officer knelt down on his neck for a number of minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May.Â
The officer wasn’t arrested until protests turned violent on 29 May. Not only had America been burning for four days but thousands had been arrested.
Everyone, regardless of who they are and where they come from, has since been able to make a choice and stand together in solidarity against the injustice.
The black squares have been posted in huge numbers on social media and have been created and passed along by activists all around the world. From ordinary people to celebrities, the world has mourned the death of Floyd and those like him, who have lost their lives under similar circumstances. Â
Sometimes you will see a black square, other times you will be able to see the words #BlackLivesMatter if you look closely. Most times though, the post is accompanied by the hashtag #BlackoutTuesday.Â
According to the Telegraph, the idea is to fill social media with black squares, freeing up the time for people to educate themselves on the Black Lives Matter movement.
Organisers behind the movement have asked people to:Â
Some South Africans have stood in solidarity against the injustice which took place in America but it’s not new to us. We have too experienced the death of citizens by force.Â
Collins Khosa was allegedly killed by SANDF soldiers in April at his home in Alexandra — allegedly for being in possession of a beer. Both cases mentioned resulted in two people losing their lives to the hands of authoritative brutality.
Apart from Blackout Tuesday and what it stands for, Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an international human rights movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people.Â
It regularly holds protests speaking out against police killing black people, and broader issues such as racial profiling, police brutality, and racial inequality in the United States criminal justice system.Â
The phrase “All Lives Matter†sprang up as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement but has been criticised for dismissing or misunderstanding the message.Â
Click here to read the full article.
In the wake of declarations by President Donald J. Trump to bring “law and order†to the country, television’s cops are donating to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
With social media turning today into #BlackoutTuesday to amplify the voices of black people, TV actors who have played cops or detectives, including “Brooklyn Nine-Nine†actress Stephanie Beatriz and “Blue Bloods†actor Griffin Newman, are urging others to make large donations of their residuals and salaries to the Emergency Response Fund.
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Both of their Tweets emphasize urge creatives to donate: “If you currently play a cop? If you make tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in residuals from playing a cop?†Beatriz and Newman each pledged over $10,000 to support various organizations.
This has spread to other people associated with cop and law enforcement series. “Law & Order: SVU†writer Celine Robinson gave $5,500. “Castle Rock†writer Lila Byock and “Medical Police†creator Max Silvestri also donated, commenting that while they didn’t play cops they have written shows associated with law enforcement.
A survey released in January by the nonprofit civil rights advocacy organization Color of Change revealed that crime shows miseducate the public about the criminal justice system by advancing distorted representations of crime, race, and gender. According to the report, “These fictitious depictions build on false perceptions of the criminal justice system and how it intersects with race and gender while ignoring many important realities.â€
This comes hot on the heels of “Law and Order†creator Dick Wolf firing a screenwriter associated with an upcoming spin-off series centered around Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler.
The support and outrage are in the wake of the murder of Minnesota resident George Floyd at the hands of the police, just one of a series of police-involved shootings of black people over the last several decades.
There are numerous ways you can support Black Lives Matter, an end to police brutality, and promoting civil rights. Some of them include donating to the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter, the Action Bail Fund, and the Peoples City Council Freedom Fund to name a few.
I’m an actor who plays a detective on tv.
If you currently play a cop?
If you make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in residuals from playing a cop?
I’ll let you do the math. (Thanks @GriffLightning for leading the way). pic.twitter.com/Xxf3dU0urF
— Stephanie Beatriz (@iamstephbeatz) June 2, 2020
I’m an out-of-work actor who (improbably) played a detective on two episodes of BLUE BLOODS almost a decade ago.
If you currently play a cop?
If you make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in residuals from playing a cop?
I’ll let you do the math. pic.twitter.com/En4ww2OSjP
— Griffin Newman (@GriffLightning) June 2, 2020
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Lawmakers and former military leaders accused President Trump of fanning the flames of division, after he threatened to deploy the Army to end widespread protests against police violence and racial discrimination.
The rebuke came a day after peaceful demonstrators were tear-gassed in front of the White House so that the president could pose for a photograph with a Bible.
Demonstrators continued to march in cities across the U.S. more than a week after the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis. Protesters and police officers were injured as clashes cropped up at night, a shift from the largely peaceful daytime rallies.
Police officers in several cities have been fired or disciplined for their harsh tactics against protesters. In Atlanta, arrest warrants were issued for six officers after video footage showed them firing Tasers and dragging two college students out of a car on Saturday.
Chinese officials are trolling their American counterparts with protest slogans like “Black lives matter†and “I can’t breathe.†The U.S. unrest is giving Chinese leaders a natural line of counter attack as Beijing moves to rein in Hong Kong and crack down on pro-democracy activists there.
China’s propaganda push is the latest skirmish in a power struggle between China and the U.S.
Quotable: “The moral ground of the United States is indeed greatly weakened,†said Song Guoyou, a scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai.
Analysis: After years of American unilateralism, European allies are turning their backs on President Trump, our chief diplomatic correspondent writes.
A 71-year-old Rohingya man died from the coronavirus on May 31 while undergoing treatment at a refugee camp’s isolation center, a Bangladeshi official said.
The first death in the camps, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees live, escalated fears about a potentially devastating outbreak in a community confined to tightly packed tents and shacks. At least 29 Rohingya have tested positive for the coronavirus so far.
Here are the latest updates and maps of where the coronavirus has spread.
In other news:
The Indonesian government will not allow its citizens to attend this year’s hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, citing the pandemic.
The Hong Kong government extended restrictions on public gatherings and travelers as the city recorded new local infections.
Wuhan completed a push to test nearly 11 million residents in the span of a few weeks. The testing revealed no new symptomatic infections and about 300 asymptomatic infections.
South Korea reported 38 new cases, all but one in the Seoul metropolitan area.
The Times is providing free access to much of our coronavirus coverage, and our Coronavirus Briefing newsletter — like all of our newsletters — is free. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.
In 1984, a little girl who was found crying in a parking lot in central South Korea was flown to Michigan — one of the 7,900 children South Korea shipped out that year for overseas adoption, mostly to the U.S.
Today, that girl, renamed Kara Bos, an American citizen and mother of two, is at the center of the first paternity lawsuit filed in South Korea by an overseas adoptee. “I feel it’s a fundamental right for us as abandoned children to know our pasts,†she told our reporter.
Philippines: The government backtracked and suspended plans to terminate a longstanding military agreement with the U.S. that President Rodrigo Duterte had sharply criticized. The decision was made “in light of political and other developments in the region,†the foreign secretary said, without elaborating.
Ebola returns: A fresh outbreak of the Ebola virus has flared up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is already contending with the world’s largest measles epidemic and the coronavirus pandemic. Five new cases were discovered just as Congo was about to declare an official end to an Ebola epidemic in the east of the country that had lasted nearly two years.
What we’re reading: This article from Vulture on police TV shows. “It’s an interesting dissection of the genre in general, whether you are a devoted fan of police procedurals or don’t watch them a lot,†says Sanam Yar, from the Briefings Team.
Cook: Mashed potatoes and greens come together in this Irish colcannon. Our food writer Melissa Clark says it’s among the most nourishing, comforting, filling dishes you can make.
Watch: Spike Lee’s work can be uneven, but it’s never uninteresting, writes our co-chief film critic A.O. Scott. Here’s a starter guide to the essential Spike Lee.
Cope: Studies show that gay couples, on average, resolve conflict more constructively than different-sex couples. Here are some constructive methods to handle disagreements, as observed by researchers of gay couples.
Do: If you’re starting to exercise again after lockdown, here’s expert advice on taking it slow to prevent injuries.
At Home has our full collection of ideas on what to read, cook, watch, and do while staying safe at home.
Much remains unknown and mysterious about the coronavirus, but these are some of the things we’re pretty sure of, after half a year of living with this pandemic. Our health and science teams shared their insights. Here are some of them:
1. We’ll have to live with this for a long time. The virus has shown no sign of going away: We will most likely be in this pandemic era for a year or more.
2. You should be wearing a mask. Researchers know that even simple masks can effectively stop droplets spewing from an infected wearer’s nose or mouth. There is also growing evidence that some kinds of masks protect you more than others, like N95 masks.
3. We can’t count on herd immunity to keep us healthy. The idea is simple: If enough of the population develops antibodies, the virus will hit many dead ends when it infects people. But that may not happen, even if a vaccine designed to help your body produce antibodies becomes available.
4. The virus produces more symptoms than expected. At first, doctors focused on the lungs, but in some patients, the virus propels the immune system into overdrive and damages other organs. A loss of the senses of taste and smell, along with gastrointestinal issues, have joined early symptom lists.
That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.
— Melina and Carole
Thank you
To Melissa Clark for the recipe, and to Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the rest of the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.
P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.†Our latest episode is about the systems that protect U.S. police.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Greenish-blue color (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• Nikole Hannah-Jones recently discussed how enduring racial inequalities explain the nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing on the CNN show “Fareed Zakaria GPS.â€
Villagers detained by authorities during a deadly police raid five months ago on the Dong Tam commune outside the Vietnamese capital Hanoi are being denied visits by family members, who are also restricted in what they can send their loved ones to support them in custody, sources say.
Dong Tam village elder Le Dinh Kinh, 84, was shot and killed by police during the Jan. 9 assault that involved about 3,000 security officers and was the latest flare-up of a long-running dispute over a military airport construction site about 25 miles south of Hanoi.
So far, 29 residents have been arrested in relation to the Dong Tam incident, which also claimed the lives of three police officers, and are being prosecuted on charges ranging from murder to the illegal storage and use of weapons and opposing officers on duty.
Relatives of those held in custody have not yet been able to visit their loved ones in detention, though, and can provide them only limited support behind bars, one family member told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.
“If I send gifts to my husband, I cannot send food,†said Nguyen Thi Duyen, wife of detained Dong Tam villager Le Dinh Uy. “I am allowed to send him only two suits of clothes, and can send him just one and a half million dong [U.S. $60] each month.â€
Family members of the others held in jail are bound by the same restrictions, said Hoang Thi Hoa, wife of Le Dinh Chuc, son of slain Dong Tam village elder Le Dinh Kinh.
Le Dinh Chuc, 40, had at first been reported killed along with his father when police attacked their home in the early morning hours of Jan. 9, though state media later confirmed that only the older man had died.
Le had been left partly paralyzed in the assault, but his condition has now improved, Hoang told RFA on June 2.
“I met with the Hanoi police, and they said my husband’s health is better now, and he can walk again,†she said.
“I was going to send him some medicine and ask the police to let him go to the hospital for further treatment, but now they tell me that there are no signs of paralysis on the one side of his body,†she said.
Reached for comment, Hanoi police officer Do Dinh Thanh—the officer who had invited Hoang to come to the station to talk—declined to speak, saying he was busy and would call back later.
He failed to call again, though, and later attempts to reach him by phone rang unanswered.
Health improving ‘step by step’
Defense lawyer Le Van Hoa meanwhile said that Le Dinh Chuc’s health has slowly improved, with progress coming “step by step.â€
“Following the [Jan. 9] clash, I met with Le Dinh Chuc while he was being questioned by police, and I saw that he had an injury on the top of his head. At that time, he found it very difficult to walk, and he moved very slowly,†he said.
“I [recently] asked him about his condition, and he said that he had been paralyzed on one side of his body, but since then his health has slowly been improving step by step.â€
Official reports of the Jan. 9 police raid on Dong Tam said that villagers had assaulted police with grenades and petrol bombs, but a report drawn from witness accounts and released seven days later by journalists and activists said that police had attacked first during the deadly clash.
Police blocked off pathways and alleys during the attack and beat villagers “indiscriminately, including women and old people,†the report said, calling the assault “possibly the bloodiest land dispute in Vietnam in the last ten years.â€
While all land in Vietnam is ultimately held by the state, land confiscations have become a flashpoint as residents accuse the government of pushing small landholders aside in favor of lucrative real estate projects, and of paying too little in compensation.
Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Huy Le. Written in English by Richard Finney.
A Washington, D.C., man who is being praised for opening his home to protesters so they could escape arrest thinks the people he helped are the real heroes.
“I hope that my 13-year-old son grows up to be just as amazing as they are,†Rahul Dubey, 44, told ABC news channel WJLA Tuesday after nearly 70 protesters left his home as the city’s curfew lifted at 6 a.m.
After a 15-minute standoff, the police surged forward, pushing protesters with their shields and spraying gas, according to The Washington Post.
“It was a human tsunami,†Dubey told the paper. “I was hanging on my railing yelling, ‘Get in the house! Get in the house!’â€
He opened his door, and protesters raced in. He gave them milk to wash out their eyes, and let them spend the night — despite police attempting several times to coax the group outside to be arrested, according to protesters who spoke to local D.C. news station WUSA9.
Dubey can also be heard saying in a video posted widely to Twitter that police “shot tear gas through the window†of his home. He also said that police “put me up against a wall†for about 15 seconds when he tried to get to his home earlier that evening.Â
“How were you able to get home if they were holding you?†a protester recording the video asks him.
“Because I’m not Black,†he responds.
Although many would see his actions as brave, Dubey doesn’t think he did “anything special.â€
“I know most people would’ve flung open that door,†he told WUSA9.
He added to the news channel that he feels the nation is “lost†and “very fragile,†and he decided to help because no one is “doing anything about it, except for these people.â€
He continued by describing what the protesters were doing while staying in his home:
“[The protesters] lead with love, and when you lead with love, the country is exactly like this — where we’re diverse and we’re united,†he said. “They were in there in groups, being pragmatic, they were problem-solving, they were sharing their fears, they were frightened, they were consoling each other. That’s the America I know. And if my leaders could actually reproduce what took place in that house in unity, we’re going to be a much better country.â€
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The government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic was a “paternalistic†one, said the Pretoria high court on Tuesday, when it struck down as unconstitutional the lockdown regulations under the Disaster Management Act.Â
The order was suspended for two weeks to allow Co-operative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma time to “review, amend and republish†some of the regulations. However, an application to appeal is likely to be made in that time.
The case was brought by Reyno de Beer and an organisation called Liberty Fighters Network during level four of the lockdown. They asked the court to strike down as unconstitutional the declaration of a national state of disaster and all the regulations under it, on the basis that the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic was a “gross overreactionâ€.Â
In his judgment, Pretoria high court Judge Norman Davis said the overreaction argument could not be sustained. But the declaration of a national state of disaster “places the power to promulgate and direct substantial (if not virtual[ly] all) aspects of everyday life of the people of South Africa in the hands of a single minister with little or none of the customary parliamentary, provincial or other oversight functions provided for in the Constitution in place.â€
In such circumstances, the regulations had to be “closely scrutinisedâ€, said the judge. Davis said each regulation had to be both rational and justifiable under the Constitution and went on to look at individual aspects of the regulations.Â
While some passed muster, he found a number were irrational. It was irrational that people were allowed to attend funerals yet informal traders, who had less contact with other people on a daily basis than at a funeral, were not allowed to trade. It was irrational that a hairdresser, willing to comply with preventative measures, must “watch her children go hungry while witnessing minicab taxis pass with passengers in closer proximity to each other than they would have been in her salonâ€, he said.
“To put it bluntly, it can hardly be argued that it is rational to allow scores of people to run on the promenade but were one to step foot on the beach, it will lead to rampant infection,†Davis said.Â
He said that the evidence before him — an affidavit from the co-operative governance and traditional affairs director-general on behalf of the minister — did not show that the minister had considered each of the regulations individually for their constitutionality. “The director general’s affidavit contains mere platitudes in a generalised fashion in this regard, but nothing of substance,†he said.
“The clear inference I drew from the evidence is that once the minister had declared a national state of disaster … little or, in fact, no regard was given to the extent of the impact of individual regulations on the constitutional rights of people,†he said.
“The starting point was not ‘how can we as a government limit constitutional rights in the least possible fashion while still protecting the inhabitants of South Africa?’ but rather ‘we seek to achieve our goal by whatever means, irrespective of the costs, and we determine, albeit incrementally, which constitutional rights you as the people of South Africa may exercise’.â€
This was a paternalistic approach, rather than a constitutionally justifiable approach, Davis said.
The regulations had, “in an overwhelming number of instancesâ€, not been justified by the minister. The government had to look at “every instance†where rights were being encroached upon and enquire whether the encroachment was justifiable, he said.
“Without conducting such an inquiry, the enforcement of such means, even in a bona fide attempt to attain a legitimate end, would be arbitrary and unlawful,†said Davis.Â
In a statement, the Cabinet said it was studying the judgment and would make a further statement once it had fully studied it.
The government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic was a “paternalistic†one, said the Pretoria high court on Tuesday, when it struck down as unconstitutional the lockdown regulations under the Disaster Management Act.Â
The order was suspended for two weeks to allow Co-operative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma time to “review, amend and republish†some of the regulations. However, an application to appeal is likely to be made in that time.
The case was brought by Reyno de Beer and an organisation called Liberty Fighters Network during level four of the lockdown. They asked the court to strike down as unconstitutional the declaration of a national state of disaster and all the regulations under it, on the basis that the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic was a “gross overreactionâ€.Â
In his judgment, Pretoria high court Judge Norman Davis said the overreaction argument could not be sustained. But the declaration of a national state of disaster “places the power to promulgate and direct substantial (if not virtual[ly] all) aspects of everyday life of the people of South Africa in the hands of a single minister with little or none of the customary parliamentary, provincial or other oversight functions provided for in the Constitution in place.â€
In such circumstances, the regulations had to be “closely scrutinisedâ€, said the judge. Davis said each regulation had to be both rational and justifiable under the Constitution and went on to look at individual aspects of the regulations.Â
While some passed muster, he found a number were irrational. It was irrational that people were allowed to attend funerals yet informal traders, who had less contact with other people on a daily basis than at a funeral, were not allowed to trade. It was irrational that a hairdresser, willing to comply with preventative measures, must “watch her children go hungry while witnessing minicab taxis pass with passengers in closer proximity to each other than they would have been in her salonâ€, he said.
“To put it bluntly, it can hardly be argued that it is rational to allow scores of people to run on the promenade but were one to step foot on the beach, it will lead to rampant infection,†Davis said.Â
He said that the evidence before him — an affidavit from the co-operative governance and traditional affairs director-general on behalf of the minister — did not show that the minister had considered each of the regulations individually for their constitutionality. “The director general’s affidavit contains mere platitudes in a generalised fashion in this regard, but nothing of substance,†he said.
“The clear inference I drew from the evidence is that once the minister had declared a national state of disaster … little or, in fact, no regard was given to the extent of the impact of individual regulations on the constitutional rights of people,†he said.
“The starting point was not ‘how can we as a government limit constitutional rights in the least possible fashion while still protecting the inhabitants of South Africa?’ but rather ‘we seek to achieve our goal by whatever means, irrespective of the costs, and we determine, albeit incrementally, which constitutional rights you as the people of South Africa may exercise’.â€
This was a paternalistic approach, rather than a constitutionally justifiable approach, Davis said.
The regulations had, “in an overwhelming number of instancesâ€, not been justified by the minister. The government had to look at “every instance†where rights were being encroached upon and enquire whether the encroachment was justifiable, he said.
“Without conducting such an inquiry, the enforcement of such means, even in a bona fide attempt to attain a legitimate end, would be arbitrary and unlawful,†said Davis.Â
In a statement, the Cabinet said it was studying the judgment and would make a further statement once it had fully studied it.