While government has eased restrictions on religious gatherings there remain in-principle reasons for pursuing a court case that was instituted against the state in January, says Advocate Nadene Badenhorst legal counsel to Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA).
In a video [see at bottom of the page] response to the easing of restrictions announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday, she says FOR SA went to the High Court in Johannesburg at a time when there was a need to apply for the urgent lifting of a complete ban on religious gatherings in SA. The urgency fell away when the president announced the lifting of the ban on February 1 — the day before the case was set for hearing.
But she says that with the possibility of further waves of the pandemic it is important to proceed with the case in order to establish the basis and reasoning upon which government can lawfully restrict religious gatherings.
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She says FOR SA and other organisations (South African Christian National Forum, Solidariteit Helpende Hand and the Muslim Lawyers’ Accociation) are filing supplementary papers in part of an ongoing process that needs to be finalised before the case will be ready for hearing. For this reason a court date has not yet been set.
In the video below she also appeals for Christians to contribute to a fund towards the cost of the case and towards a team of lawyers who are sacrificially giving time and expertise to the case in order to defend religious freedoms. She says more information on the case and on how to support the fund, can be found on the FOR SA website.
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