According to a report by the Sunday Times, HBR argues this lockdown is unconstitutional and that the COVID-19 coronavirus “poses no serious threat to the country and its people”. “HBR Foundation believes that COVID-19 cannot be harmful to Africans,” the foundation said. HBR’s argument is based on reports which incorrectly state that some people are resistant to COVID-19 based on non-medical criteria such as their country of origin.

It is important to note that the COVID-19 coronavirus is potentially dangerous to all people regardless of age, gender, race, and many other factors – it is a global pandemic which has spread to almost every country around the world.

HBR previously lost a case in the Constitutional Court in 2011, where it argued that Soweto should have its own municipality. The report acknowledged a different case against the 21-day lockdown which did succeed – US citizens were trapped in South Africa after system inefficiencies at Home Affairs resulted in their adoption of a child taking much longer than expected to resolve.

These citizens were granted special leave to return to the United States during the period of the lockdown.