GolfRSA reaction to High Court Ruling

In light of the Gauteng High Court Ruling that declared the country’s Alert Levels 3 and 4 lockdown regulations unconstitutional and invalid, GolfRSA in conjunction with all the golf bodies, is taking action and legal advice to ascertain the repercussions the ruling holds in terms of the ongoing discussions between GolfRSA and the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.

The High Court suspended the declaration of invalidity of the regulations for 14 business days, meaning that the current Alert Level 3 regulations remain in effect until 24 June 2020 or such sooner time that the Minister amends and republishes the regulations.

It is not clear whether the ruling impacts the positive progress we have made in our consultation with the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture – or not. But once we have a better understanding of our position, we intend to take the appropriate action to ensure that our bid to re-open the golf industry at level 3 remains on track.

The ruling casts legal uncertainty over the country’s regulations at a time when Covid-19 cases and deaths continue to rise. However, we remain firm and committed to our position that we can return to golf safely.

We reiterate that our golf facilities are ready.

We have been hard at work since the start of the lockdown to put Covid-19 protocols in place. We are prepared for the return of golf in line with our comprehensive Risk Mitigation Strategy for golf facilities, which adheres to all the demands of the government’s health regulations.

In addition to the Best Practice Protocols in place, GolfRSA has purchased the advanced version of HealthDocs App, which will ensure that all golf clubs and facilities address the Covid-19 compliance regulations in terms of digital screening, monitoring, tracking and recording of all staff and golfers who enter a facility.

We firmly believe we are on the right path and we are intent on seeing this process through. But we will consider every other option available to us. This is vital, as only through the return of golfers to the courses can we save the clubs, resuscitate the R48 billion (pa) golf industry and mitigate significant job losses amongst the more than 40 000 people directly employed.

Sincerely