News

Topic for 4 June 2020 : RESPONSIVE MUNICIPAL BUDGETING DURING COVID-19

On 10 April 2020, Mr Collins Khosa was brutalised, tortured and murdered in his own home by security forces deployed to enforce South Africa's Disaster Management Act ("lockdown") regulations. The family of Mr Khosa brought an application to court to attempt to ensure such brutality does not happen again. The court ordered the Minister and various agencies of state to take a range of preventative measures. The state was ordered to pay costs.

Over 163,000 people are in correctional facilities in South Africa. Outbreaks of Covid-19 in these prisons can have catastrophic consequences for both prisoners and the public healthcare system.

The following articles/publications are available in this issue:

Due to the spike in the spread of Corona Virus across the continent in the last couple of weeks, various measures have been adopted by various countries in order to control the spread of the disease. Some of these measures include lockdowns, the closure of borders, cancellation of flights and denial of visas and entry for nationals of affected countries.

The 2020 budget proposals risk further harm to the economy by slashing funding for socioeconomic development.

In the State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ramaphosa emphasised the value of social compacts, yet he also announced that there will be reductions in expenditure. Budget Justice Coalition (BJC) worries that the President Ramaphosa’s notion of a social compact in the 2020 State of the Nation Address (SONA) will mean that low-income households and vulnerable groups will have to disproportionately shoulder the costs of “turning this economy around”. The BJC is convinced that the current spending trajectory does not prioritise the demands of a developmental state nor will it result in building much-needed state capacity.

The Dullah Omar Institute at the University of the Western Cape in partnership with the African Centre of Excellence for Access to Justice held a two-day inception meeting concerning Research on Community Based Paralegals in Africa. This took place at the Onomo Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda from 21-22 February 2020.