Excerpt: LFN is heading to court to challenge the legality of all lockdown extensions after 14 June 2020 — based on fatal miscalculations that rendered every one of them unlawful. This landmark case could open the door to billions in damages claims, with LFN seeking class action certification on behalf of affected South Africans.
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The Liberty Fighters Network (LFN) will, in the coming days, launch what may become one of the most consequential court cases in South African legal history, as we proceed with our long-anticipated application to declare the entire post-June 2020 lockdown regime unlawful — and request class action certification for victims to claim billions in damages.
This decision follows the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr. Velenkosini Hlabisa, failing to respond to our formal letter dated 7 August 2025, and a courtesy reminder sent on 22 August 2025, despite both being officially acknowledged.
The Core Illegality: Lockdown Extensions Were Not Lawful
The Disaster Management Act, 2002, is clear: after a national state of disaster (NSD) is declared, it may only be extended by the Minister for “one month at a time” — and such extension must be gazetted before the lapse of the preceding period.
Yet, when the NSD was declared on 15 March 2020, the three-month period lawfully expired on 14 June 2020. The Minister’s first extension, published on 5 June 2020, extended the NSD to 15 July 2020 — not one month, and not until the correct date. This was not a minor technicality. It was a legal defect.
In law, “a month” must be calculated using the civil method of computation, meaning a one-month extension from 14 June 2020 ends on 13 July 2020, not 15 July. Worse still, every Gazette published after this repeated the error: fixing an incorrect future calendar date instead of lawfully extending the NSD by one month from its previous expiration date.
As such, every extension after 14 June 2020 was fatally flawed — and all lockdown-related actions, policies, mandates, and coercive measures implemented after that date were rooted in unlawful executive action.
Implications: Billions in Damages, Constitutional Consequences
LFN has recorded hundreds of individuals who lost employment due to coercive vaccine mandates, or suffered harm under the prolonged restrictions. Many others were forced to vaccinate under duress — all under a regime now shown to have lacked lawful authority after June 2020.
We will be asking the Court not only to declare the lockdown regime invalid, but to certify a class action enabling these victims, and countless others, to claim compensation. Early indications suggest the State may be liable for hundreds of billions of Rand in damages.
This is not just a legal fight — it is a demand for truth, justice, and reparation. The people of South Africa were led under the pretence of legality, but subjected to a regime of legal fiction and administrative malpractice. The constitutional contract was broken.
LFN now steps forward — as it did in 2020 — to challenge the powerful, defend the harmed, and hold the State accountable.
Watch this space. Justice is coming.
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