AfriForum and Solidarity take Mkhize to court over Covid vaccines
- AfriForum and Solidarity are taking Health Minister Zweli Mkhize to court over the Covid-19 vaccine rollout
- This comes after the government banned private entities from procuring the vaccine themselves
- The organisations released a joint statement slamming the government for using the decision to mask their own failures
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Dr Zweli Mkhize is being dragged to court by lobby group AfriForum and Solidarity over the decision to centralise the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines from global pharmaceutical companies.
The groups have expressed their mistrust of the South African government. They would prefer to source vaccines as private entities.
Earlier this month, Mkhize announced that government was in discussion with a few manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines around the world. This was in a bid to ensure that at least 67% of the population got vaccinated.
Source: Original
However, the barring of the private sector from procuring the vaccines independently has not been met well by the Western Cape provincial government and a few other groups.
Solidarity’s head of research, Connie Mulder, has slammed the government, claiming that their decision would cause a stall in the rollout of the vaccine. Speaking on Sunday, Mulder said that the delay would result in the virus lasting at least two more years.
He went on to accuse the government of barring private entities from moving forward to mask their own failure of procuring the vaccine. Solidarity and AfriForum will be challenging the decision in court. The organisations released a joint statement which explained their stance.
Meanwhile, Briefly.co.za reported that the Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has once again updated South Africans on the latest Covid-19 statistics.
In a statement released by the Department of Health on Saturday evening, Mkhize noted that: "As of today, the cumulative total of COVID-19 cases identified in South Africa is 1 214 176." In addition to the latest infections, the Minister also confirmed the recorded fatalities:
"Regrettably, we report a further 399 Covid-19 related deaths: Eastern Cape 85, Free State 11, Gauteng 69, KwaZulu-Natal 96, Limpopo 5, Mpumalanga 15, Northern Cape 12 and Western Cape 106. This brings the total deaths to 32 824."
The booze ban is also in full effect and the industry is baulking under the pressure to keep afloat.
The sector has called upon President Cyril Ramaphosa to relax the ban, warning that job losses will be inevitable if the restrictions continue.
This comes as SA Breweries launches a legal bid in an attempt to have the ban overturned, claiming that all attempts to find an alternative during consultations with the state have failed.
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Source: Briefly News
