Is the government really following scientific advice? DA to PAIA Advisory Council minutes

24 March 2022

The DA will submit a request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to obtain minutes and recommendations of the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) to the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) with regards to abolishing lockdowns.

This is against the backdrop of the draft regulations to the National Health Act published in the government gazette last week, which are nothing less than an attempt by a power-hungry ANC government to make the temporary regulations of the National State of Disaster, permanent.

The South African people have a right to know exactly what was said in the meetings that convinced the government to believe that this is the proper course of action to follow, even though it is so far from reasonable scientific thinking.

They also have a right to know whether the government disregarded scientific advice in their blind insistence on permanently retaining the power to plunge South Africa into lockdown even in the absence of a State of Disaster declaration.

The proposed National Health Act regulations currently open to public participation refers to “Refusal of medical examination, prophylaxis, treatment, isolation, quarantine protocols in public areas and gatherings.

According to 15 A

A person who:

“(a) has been confirmed as a clinical or a laboratory-confirmed case as having contracted a notifiable listed condition; or (b) a person who is suspected to have contracted a notifiable medical condition that is listed; or (b) a person who has been in contact with a person who is a carrier of a notifiable medical condition that is among a list of conditions in the relevant annexures and tables.”

May not refuse to:

“(i) Submit to a medical examination, including inter alia, the taking of bodily sample which may be authorised by any law; (ii) be admitted to a health establishment, quarantine or isolation; (iii) submit to mandatory treatment, isolation or quarantine to prevent transmission.”

The problem is that South Africans do not even know what the list of these “notifiable conditions” listed in the annexures are. Even more worrying is that there is nothing that prevents the government arbitrarily changes this list of “notifiable conditions." We are hoping that the minutes of the meeting will shed light in this regard.

Furthermore, In clause 15 B, of the proposed amendment says that:

“A person referred to in regulation 15A must comply with an oral instruction or written order issued by a medical practitioner, or a person authorised by them, a nurse or an enforcement officer. (2) If a person refuses to quarantine himself/herself, or isolate/quarantine as directed, a court order might be obtained to compel such person to comply with the above.”

In the main, the proposed changes to the National Health Act are riddled with so many instances which are in direct contravention of the Bill of Right’s section 12 (2) which provides that: Everyone has the right to bodily and psychological integrity, which includes the right—(a) to make decisions concerning reproduction; (b) to security in and control over their body; and (c) not to be subjected to medical or scientific experiments without their informed consent.

As a party that believes in personal liberty and the Rule of Law, we will fight any attempt to effectively extend the State of Disaster as well as limit of the rights of law-abiding South Africans.

The government is throwing this to South Africans to see what will stick. We see this for what it is, a power grab by power-hungry individuals who will go as to any length to impose their will - even it means trampling on constitutional rights.

The DA will not allow an attack on South Africans' rights and liberties under the guise of fighting Covid-19.

Issued by Michele Clarke, DA Shadow Minister of Health, 24 March 2022