State hits back at notion that reopening schools is dangerous

Government lawyers insist that the state’s decision to ease lockdown restrictions and reopen schools, at a time when SA’s Covid-19 infection rates are increasing, is not unreasonable — particularly given the economic crisis the country is currently facing.

“At some point, the country must face the full onslaught of the coronavirus,” Kameshni Pillay, advocate for co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, argued before the Pretoria high court on Thursday. The government could not “close its eyes” to the unfolding economic crisis caused by the state’s hard lockdown of SA, she said, particularly given that it most severely affected “the poor and vulnerable”.