South Africans Back AfriForum's Stance on Mandatory Vaccination Rejection: "I'm Joining AfriForum"

• President Cyril Ramaphosa's proposed plan to make coronavirus vaccines compulsory in South Africa has received different reactions from organisations
• AfriForurm is standing firmly against the policy and says it is a violation of Constitutional rights while Cosatu changed its mind and is backing the policy
• South Africans say they are in support of AfriForum's stance and are disappointed in Cosatu for being in favour of mandatory vaccinations

JOHANNESBURG - A number of organisations have taken different stances on President Cyril Ramaphosa's proposal to make Covid19 vaccinations a requirement to gain access to certain activities and events.

In a letter written to Ramaphosa, AfriForum says mandatory vaccination is a violation of personal freedom. The organisation also reminded Ramaphosa of his commitment in February to not implement a vaccine mandate.

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AfriForum's deputy chairperson Ernst Roets says coercing people to get the vaccine is dangerous and violates the Constitutional rights of freedom of rights and the right to bodily anatomy, according to a report by TimesLIVE.

Cosatu backs Ramaphosa's vaccine mandate

In a different tune, Cosatu says it is in support of a vaccine mandate. The organisation has now changed its stance after it had previously that it was in opposition to such a policy, reports News24.

The trade union says the initial stance was to persuade people to get vaccinated but Cosatu says it has now realised that the pandemic will still be here in 2022 and people should get vaccinated. Cosatu also added that the organisation is not in favour of another hard lockdown.

Cosatu says another lockdown will be devastating for South Africa's economy.

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South Africans react, most are in support of AfriForum

South Africans seem to agree with AfriForum's stance on compulsory vaccinations. Here's what they had to say:

@Wonderb71790014 said:

"Cosatu never represented us, we are not surprised by their U-turn. They just feed their stomachs, nothing else."

@Matthew71839425 said:

"I choose not to live under rolling lockdowns and covariants. Vaccine mandates should be enforced!"

@MarkDavidsonAfr said:

"I can maybe understand some hesitancy in the beginning. But seriously now, 8 billion doses have been given to almost 4 billion people. That's a lot of data! If there was a problem, we'd know about it."

@mayeza_g said:

"I don't think vaccine was going to be a problem if South Africans trust their government... Confidence breakdown between the society and ruling party (government) put us on an unstoppable debate about vaccines. No one can eat food from someone you don't trust."

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@Mothupi28 said:

"COSATU @_cosatu has lost its relevance … it’s a branch of the @MYANC."

Mzansi responds to Ramaphosa’s decision to make vaccines compulsory

Briefly News previously reported that social media users took to the internet following President Cyril Ramaphosa's speech to react to the news that soon Covid 19 vaccines would be made compulsory.

Throughout the day people have been trying to guess what Ramaphosa would announce at the latest 'Family Meeting'. Most people thought that stricter Covid 19 restrictions would be brought into effect.

However, the news of compulsory vaccines took some people by surprise and made others very angry.

Source: Briefly News