ABSTRACT
Virtually every nation of the world is affected by the spread of COVID-19, a deadly pandemic that has transformed the manner in which we are governed and live. In the context of South Africa, the spread of the pandemic evoked state’s regulatory responses that restrict the constitutionally guaranteed human rights, including the rights to freedom movement, freedom of association, freedom of religion and the right to human dignity. Possibly due to the widely held view of South Africans’ religiosity, the restriction touching on religious freedom appears to have elicited much public debate. This chapter, by using a doctrinal research approach through analysis of literature, statutes and case examples evaluated the state regulations enacted to curb the spread of the COVID-19 in South Africa vis-à-vis the constitutional provisions protecting freedom of religion in the country. It argues that parts of the regulations that provide for the total or partial ban of religious gatherings in the wake of the outbreak of the COVID-19 are permissible limitations of religious freedom.
