Ramaphosa threatened with legal action: DA wants vaccine details
- DA leader John Steenhuisen has threatened President Cyril Ramaphosa with legal action
- The opposition head wants to know the origin of Covid-19 vaccines destined for use in SA
- Steenhuisen's legal team has requested Ramaphosa shares the efforts made to secure vaccines
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Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen has threatened President Cyril Ramaphosa with legal action.
Source: Getty Images
Steenhuisen wants Ramaphosa to divulge the details of the origin of Covid-19 vaccines intended for use within the country.
Speaking to the media, the opposition leader explained that DA lawyers had written to the President requesting information on the government's plans to secure vaccines in addition to the
“Our lawyers have already written to the president setting out the extent to which the government's strategy does not meet the constitutional requirements for a comprehensive vaccine roll-out programme, in that it violates several constitutional provisions.
Steenhuisen had slammed Ramaphosa's 'failure' to secure vaccines in time as a violation of the Constitution:
“The failure to provide one or more Covid-19 vaccines timeously when these vaccines are available is a violation of people’s rights, in terms of Section 27(1) of the Constitution, to have access to health-care services."
In addition to this, Steenhuisen also claims that this was a violation of the state's obligation:
“It is also a violation of government’s obligation in terms of Section 27(2) to take reasonable measures to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to access health-care, as well as a violation of the right to life, as enshrined in Section 11 of the Bill of Rights."
The DA has given Ramaphosa a week to respond to these allegations against the government:
“In our letter we asked the president to reply within seven days explaining why, in his view, the government has not infringed on these constitutional provisions. We have also asked him, for the sake of transparency, to set out the details of the government’s negotiations with vaccine suppliers. This reply must include the dates and the minutes of all the meetings with suppliers."
Earlier, Briefly.co.za reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the government had secured millions of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The country is in need of desperate relief, as there have been over 1 million confirmed cases and 37 105 deaths.
The National Treasury is now considering increasing tax rates so that they can fund the vaccine. The Treasury director-general, Dondo Mogajane says that the government is committed to funding the rollout of the vaccines.
“SA will not take us seriously if I can find money for SAA but not for vaccines,” he said, during an interview with Business Day.
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Source: Briefly News
