Media briefing with Advocate Erin-Dianne Richards – IRR

Press Release 

The lockdown, liberty and the law will be the topic of a discussion the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) will be hosting on Wednesday with Advocate Erin-Dianne Richards.

Richards and fellow advocate, Nazeer Cassim SC, gained wide public attention earlier this month when they wrote to the Presidency requesting clarity on the powers exercised by the National Coronavirus Command Council in imposing lockdown regulations on South Africa.

Wednesday’s discussion follows the release of the IRR’s report, Keeping Liberty Alive, which alerts South Africans to the vital importance of examining, and countering, the threats the lockdown and the mechanisms the government has employed to enforce it pose to citizens’ political and economic freedoms.

Author of the report, IRR head of policy research Dr Anthea Jeffery, argues that if liberty ‘is to be kept alive, it is vital to challenge every unreasonable and unjustifiable decision – from the irrationality of specific rules to the constitutionality of the lockdown as a whole’.
 
Details of the briefing with Advocate Erin-Dianne Richards:
Date: Wednesday 20 May
Time: 10am
Platform: Microsoft Teams Go to https://bit.ly/3cHFpL5

 
Media contact: Hermann Pretorius, IRR Deputy Head of Policy Research – 079 875 4290; hermann@irr.org.za
Media enquiries: Michael Morris Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za
Kelebogile Leepile Tel: 079 051 0073 Email: kelebogile@irr.org.za