THE CONSTITUTIONAL Court on Friday dismissed with costs an application by Mmusi Maimane’s One South Africa Movement party to stop the reopening of schools on Monday. In an order made on Friday, the Constitutional Court said it had considered the application for direct access to the court on an urgent basis.
“It has concluded that [One South Africa Movement] has not made out a case for direct access and thus the application should be dismissed as it is not in the interests of justice to hear it at this stage,” the ConCourt said.
In an urgent application to the Concourt, Maimane’s party challenged the government’s decision to reopen schools on June 8, citing poor infrastructure, school overcrowding, staff shortages and sanitation as some of the reasons not to reopen schools.
Reacting to the court verdict on Friday, Maimane said: “It must be clear that the Concourt did not consider the merits of our case or pronounce on such. The court only considered whether it was the appropriate body to adjudicate the case from inception. The merits of our case stand.”
“We maintain that schools are not ready to safely reopen, and doing so will put in danger the lives of students, teachers and support staff as COVID-19 infections continue to rise. We cannot risk allowing our country’s places of learning to become petri dishes for increases in infections which may undo the value of the national lockdown.”
(Compiled by Inside Education staff)
