Ongoing Court Process in respect of the decision to provide Humanitarian Assistance to Cuba through the African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund – African Business

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation has taken note of the Constitutional Court Order, published on 23 Aug 2022, which dismissed its application for direct appeal of the Gauteng Division of Pretoria’s High Court (Pretoria) order of 22 March 2022 that prevented the Government and the African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund from providing humanitarian assistance to Cuba through this Fund.

DIRCO applied to direct access to Constitutional Court to appeal the decision while simultaneously petitioning Supreme Court of Appeal to have direct access.

The final decision is still to be made.

The Gauteng High Court continues to hear the legal proceedings regarding the review application against the decision of humanitarian assistance.

The Constitutional Court didn’t pronounce on the merits in its order because it was only dealing directly with the application for access, which is a procedural issue.

In its order, the Constitutional Court stated that it would not hear the matter at that stage. It recommended that the matter be ventilated and heard by a different court.

Any narrative or suggestions in the media that the order given by the Constitutional Court is a “victory” in the case are erroneous as the substantive matters relating to the review are still to be addressed in the High Court process, which is currently ongoing, and all legal routes remain available to the Government, including to appeal the matter in the Constitutional Court once the legal proceedings have taken their course.

Distributed by APO Group, Republic of South Africa: Department of International Relations and Cooperation