Opposition Mounts Against NHI Bill: Legal Challenges Loom
- BUSA said the National Health Insurance Bill in its current form could damage the health sector and investor confidence
- The organisation was reacting to news that President Cyril Ramphosa planned on signing the Bill into law on 15 May 2024
- Several opposition parties also rejected the Bill, with some threatening to take legal action should the President proceed
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Source: UGC
Business Unity South Africa said the National Health Insurance Bill in its current form is unworkable, unaffordable, and contradictory to the Constitution.
Business sector believes the NHI Bill will damage the health sector
The entity reacted to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that he would sign the NHI Bill into law on 15 May 2024.
CEO Cas Coovadia said in a statement that the organisation believed that the Bill, in its current form, would damage the country’s healthcare sector, the economy and investor confidence.
Coovadia added that it was disheartening that Ramaphosa would proceed with the Bill despite extensive constructive contributions made by various stakeholders, including healthcare professionals and businesses.
On the other hand, Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busisiwe Mavuso, in a statement, said the law would never work:
“There is no capacity to implement it, and as soon as it is signed it will be embroiled in litigation on several fronts."
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Opposition parties reject the NHI Bill
DA leader John Steenhuisen said his party was ready to challenge the NHI to the Constitutional Court. He further accused Ramaphosa of announcing the move to salvage support for the ANC weeks before the General Election:
“We always understood that the NHI was destined to be used as a cheap stunt by an increasingly-desperate and populist ANC.”
In an interview shared by @TshunguTitus on X, the EFF’s Naledi Chirwa labelled the NHI Bill as an atrocious looting system that the country must be aware of.
BOSA’s @MmusiMaimane said his organisation was considering legal options to go against the Bill, which he said would drain the treasury.
IEC clarifies: No Zanu-PF observer status for Elections
Briefly News reported that many netizens breathed a sigh of relief after the IEC explained that Zanu-PF was not accredited as an election observer.
The IEC responded to ATM's Vuyo Zungula's complaint after news broke that the ruling party invited the Zimbabwean party to observe the polls.
The commission assured Zungula that no political party was accredited to observe the polls.
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Source: Briefly News
