{"id":7267,"date":"2021-12-17T08:21:13","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T08:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot"},"modified":"2021-12-17T09:04:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T09:04:04","slug":"government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot","title":{"rendered":"Government lawyers say vendors\u2019 case is moot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>The government lawyers have said the case of the street vendors which was filed on urgent basis on January 15th, wherein they are seeking relief from court following the three<\/p>\n

weeks total lockdown imposed by the government, is academic. These developments transpired on Sunday the 14th at the High Court. The street vendors had approached the<\/p>\n

court following the two weeks total lockdown announcement by the Prime Minister Dr. Moeketsi Majoro on January 12 which was also extended by a week in an<\/p>\n

efforts to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infections. Dr. Majoro had on March 2 partially lifted the lockdown restrictions and moved the country from the red colour stage to the orange<\/p>\n

stage as per the country\u2019s Risk Determination and Mitigation Framework colour coding system, a move which saw phasing in of many economic activities including the street vendors.<\/p>\n

The government lawyers have made the argument following the street vendors\u2019 prayer that the government should ease the lockdown restrictions that bar them from selling while the big retailers<\/p>\n

continue to sell and enjoy monopoly. Advocate Christopher Lephuthing, who is representing the government, said the court should dismiss the case of the<\/p>\n

vendors as it is now moot. \u201cHow is the court supposed to review the decision that has been overtaken by events?\u201d Advocate Lephuthing further asked the court<\/p>\n

to dismiss it with costs. He added: \u201cThis is a vexatious litigation. \u201d The government\u2019s legal representative argued that the petitioners knew that the government has been processing their<\/p>\n

stipends since the days of the previous Thomas Thabane led administration last year. \u201cThey are demonising the government,\u201d he charged. The legal representative for the street<\/p>\n

vendors Advocate Napo Mafaesa said the case is premised on two things- the review of the lockdown restrictions and the protection against the lockdown<\/p>\n

measures which prohibited his clients from carrying out their operations. \u201cApplicants are not challenging holistically the decisions or exercise of powers conferred by the parliament<\/p>\n

act,\u201d he said adding that the petitioners are challenging the \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d decision to exclude them from selling contrary to the retailers whose operations were not halted during the lockdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe applicants said the decision lacks rational basis. \u201d He went on to say that the government\u2019s<\/p>\n

decision to bar them from selling during the lockdown is lacking in rationality because his clients operate in open spaces and attract small number of<\/p>\n

customers, arguing that the chances of spreading the Coronavirus are minimal on the part of the vendors. He added: \u201cThey are not super spreaders. \u201d \u201c\u2026 the government has failed to combat Covid-19<\/p>\n

pandemic and no one is held to account and the government\u2019s poor decision is made to affect myself and other street vendors. It is a fact known to me that<\/p>\n

no street vendor where I operate ever succumbed to Covid-19 and I never heard of my known customers to have suffered the same. This is because street vendors<\/p>\n

observe Covid-19 protocols as mandated by World Health Organisation. \u201cApplicants face starvation as their livelihood is brought to an abrupt end by the<\/p>\n

government through lockdown. There [are] no contingency plans to assist applicants notwithstanding the fact that their businesses are closed. \u201cThere are no compelling or rational<\/p>\n

grounds to have closed applicants\u2019 businesses when in fact the other businesses, big retails, offering same goods are allowed to operate. This is to give big retailers a monopoly over street vendors.<\/p>\n

This act is not only ungodly but has no rational basis [to] deprive a street vendor to sell fruits and vegetables when another business entity is allowed to do the same,\u201d<\/p>\n

reads the applicants court papers. The applicants are: Mareni \u2018Mabathoana, Paul Pakisi, Lesole Ramole , Kotsi Koali and Teboho May. These petitioners sell range of products from food, fruits, vegetables,<\/p>\n

cosmetics and clothes. The respondents are: Prime Minister, Minister of Health, Commissioner of Police, Commander of Lesotho Defence Force, Ministry of Small Business Development, Cooperatives and Marketing and Attorney<\/p>\n

General being first to sixth respondents respectively The case is before Justice T\u0161eliso Monapathi. The applicants are represented by Neo Komota while the respondents other legal practitioners are Attorneys Monaheng Rasekoai and Kuili Ndebele. The judgement has been reserved for February 24.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. The government lawyers have said the case of the street vendors which was filed on urgent basis on January 15th, wherein they are seeking relief from court following the three weeks total lockdown imposed by the government, is academic. These developments transpired on Sunday the 14th at the High Court. The street […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":7266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,12,16],"tags":[233,246,424,245],"class_list":["post-7267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-government","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment lawyers say vendors\u2019 case is moot - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The government lawyers have said the case of the street vendors which was filed on urgent basis on January 15th, wherein ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government lawyers say vendors\u2019 case is moot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government lawyers have said the case of the street vendors which was filed on urgent basis on January 15th, wherein ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-17T08:21:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-17T09:04:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2021\/12\/img-61bc526c978f3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Government lawyers say vendors\u2019 case is moot\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-17T08:21:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-17T09:04:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot\"},\"wordCount\":715,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2021\/12\/img-61bc526c978f3.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"government\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/government-lawyers-say-vendors-case-is-moot\",\"name\":\"Government lawyers say vendors\u2019 case is moot - 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