Govt requests additional time to respond to DA over closure of Garden Route beaches

DA leader John Steenhuisen has threatened to head to court if government fails to provide a rational explanation for the decision.

The Presidency wrote to the official opposition on Wednesday, request a  24-hour extension to its original deadline of5pm on Wednesday.

“We have written back to President Cyril Ramaphosa and (Cooperative Governance) Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma granting them an extension to 10:00 on Thursday 17 December,” says Steenhuisen.

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“The fact that the national government has requested additional time to prepare a response to our letter requesting reasons for the decision to close the Garden Route’s beaches only demonstrates that there was none to begin with. It would seem that any reasons now provided would be ex post facto manufactured.”

The Garden Route and Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape have both been declared Covid-19 hotspots as the country battles a second wave of infections.

But while the Eastern Cape has asked for national government to close its beaches, several organisations are taking legal action over the decision affecting the Garden Route.

Steenhuisen says if there is evidence that government's reasoning is irrational, then the party will head to court. 

“Should it be evident that the decision to close the Garden Route’s beaches be without rational reasons and therefore unlawful, as we believe it to be, we will file papers.”