The Democratic Alliance (DA) said the party’s legal representatives are preparing to take legal action against Cyril Ramaphosa after he signed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into law at the Union Buildings on Wednesday.
Ramaphosa signed the bill against criticisms and dissatisfaction from the medical sector, various political parties, academics, and industry experts.
After the signing of the controversial bill, DA Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube, addressed the media outside the Union Buildings and said they will be bringing a legal challenge against the bill within 30 days.
“We believe that the centralisation of the pool of funds to manage an NHI fund that will be managed by a minister, will not only hinder the people’s ability to access health care, but will also open up the funds to significant corruption. We’ve seen with Digital Vibes and the former health minister and what happened there.
“We believe that we can make this plea to the court that the department wont be able to implement a progressive realisation of quality health care to South Africans if this bill comes into enactment...This fund will essentially be looted and we won’t realise quality health care,in line with Section 27,” she said.
Meanwhile, speaking to Newzroom Afrika, University of Free State's public law lecturer, Dr Larisse Prinsen said there was a strong ground to take legal steps against the NHI and oppose its implementation.
“There are various grounds and some of them are more valid than others to go to court on this matter...We are now looking at a few issues that President Ramaphosa in his speech regarding the rule of law and there are some question on the rule of law especially in the bill’s uncertainty and its ambiguity to a few key provisions.
“We are also looking at issues of procedural fairness, whether that was correctly followed. The are also social justice organisations that have quite a few issues that want to raise in court,” she told the broadcaster.
The signing ceremony took place at the Union Buildings’ west wing courtyard in Pretoria on Wednesday afternoon.
This comes after five years of heated debates and public hearings over the authorisation of the bill. The bill was tabled in 2019.
Millions of patients, the elderly, disadvantaged, as well as veterans will benefit from the newly authorised health insurance system, as the bill stated.
Addressing the media, Ramaphosa said the signing of the bill was a pivotal moment in the history of the country, leading it to a much better South Africa.
According to Ramaphosa, the bill will achieve universal coverage for health services and is critical to overcoming critical socio-economic imbalances and inequities of the past.
In signing the bill, Ramaphosa said they were preaching the same message as Section 27 of the Constitution.
Section 27 (1)(a) states that “Everyone has the right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health care.”
It continues to say “No one may be refused emergency medical treatment.”
Ramaphosa further urged people not to fear the NHI, stating that through health insurance, government has plans to improve the effectiveness of healthcare provision by requiring all health facilities to achieve minimum quality health standards.
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