Handing down the ruling, Acting Judge Henk Roelofse said he had “extreme sympathy for the applicant but I must uphold the law. Unfortunately, presently, the law prohibits that which the applicant wants to do however urgent and deserving.”

The dimensions of the human tragedy that Corona-19 has visited on South African people is highlighted in the court application brought by Karel Van Heerden, whose grandfather lived in the Eastern Cape and who perished in a fire.

Van Heerden, in his application to the court to be given permission to travel to Hofmeyer in the Eastern Cape, said his mother had informed him on 27 March 2020 that his grandfather had died.

The Mbombela resident had wanted to travel to support his mother and to help with funeral arrangements, however, in terms of  Regulation 11B(1)(a)(ii) of the final lockdown Regulations, he is prohibited from doing so.

Van Heerden said he had approached the court as he did not want to contravene the final lockdown Regulation and sought only a “temporary exemption.”

He argued that lockdown Regulations made provision for funerals and that he accepted that these had been drawn “in an urgent manner and that the authors were not afforded ample opportunity to consider all aspects which could relate thereto.”

Roelofse said he could allow Van Heerden to travel as “in doing so, I will be authorizing the applicant to break the law under judicial decree – that no court can do.”

He added that no matter how carefully or diligently Van Heerden would conduct himself, not only he, “but many others may be exposed to unnecessary risk, even death if I grant the applicant the relief he seeks. DM