Maverick Citizen

COVID-19 JABS

Business Unity South Africa to seek clarity from court on compulsory vaccination for employees

Business Unity South Africa will seek clarity from the courts about compulsory vaccination in the workplace. (Photo: Facebook)

Business Unity SA expects to get legal clarity from the high court on whether employers and business owners may compel employees to be vaccinated.

Business Unity South Africa (Busa) will approach the high court in the next two months to get a ruling on the constitutionality of compulsory workplace vaccine policies, the organisation’s CEO, Cas Coovadia, said on Tuesday. 

Coovadia said Busa believed a pronouncement from the courts on the constitutionality and legality of mandatory vaccinations would create certainty in the business community. 

“Occupational health and safety regulations enable businesses to institute mandatory vaccination requirements under certain circumstances. A number of businesses have already acted on this. We believe it would create certainty if there is a pronouncement by a court on the constitutionality and legality of mandatory vaccinations. 

“We think mandatory vaccination is critical to ensure as many of our people as possible are vaccinated, so that we can overcome the virus and get back to a semblance of a ‘new normal,’ ” Coovadia said. 

“We are working with the government to consider multifaceted approaches to stimulate demand, including the Vooma weekends, opening up for 12- to 18-year-olds, getting mobile vaccination sites to people and other mechanisms.”  

Just over 180,000 vaccines were administered on Monday, according to the Department of Health’s vaccination stats — a far cry from the goal of 300,000 set by President Cyril Ramaphosa. 

Coovadia said Busa supported a policy of mandatory vaccination. 

He said Busa was still consulting about possible legal exemptions to compulsory vaccinations. 

Meanwhile, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has expressed concern about the low rate of vaccination take-up in the metro and the impact this could have on economic activity during the December holiday period. 

“Current estimates are that the fourth wave could affect our country from early December and if insufficient people are vaccinated this is likely to place pressure on the hospitals and place limitations on economic activity,” said Denise van Huyssteen, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber.  

“This could potentially be devastating to the tourism and hospitality sectors in particular, who have already suffered immensely since the onset of the pandemic. 

“We should be using this period to do everything possible to proactively accelerate the rate of vaccinations in order to achieve herd immunity.  

“We appeal to all stakeholders — including business, churches and civil society — to unite around the goal of providing the facts around vaccinations and making this as accessible as possible to all communities,” Van Huyssteen said. 

In KwaZulu-Natal, MEC for Health Nomagugu Simelane addressed the latest rumours about the vaccine — that it would turn people into bloodthirsty cannibals — saying she herself is living proof that the vaccine is safe for use. 

“As I stand before you, I’ve never had the urge to eat anyone, and it will never happen. So, what people are saying about the vaccine making people want to eat others… of being part of 5G technology, or linked to the work of the devil, is all nothing but a myth. It is not true.”

Simelane was speaking on Tuesday during a mobile community outreach programme known as Isibhedlela Kubantu, at Magabheni Sports Ground near Umkomaas, which attracted more than 500 mainly elderly people. 

KwaZulu-Natal has now vaccinated around 3.2 million people — 32% of its eligible population. 

In the Western Cape, the Department of Health released statistics showing that it had vaccinated 45% of the province’s total population, with 34% fully vaccinated. 

A department statement said: “The latest data shows that in many areas there is a difference in insured and uninsured populations, and thus the specific focus of the Health Department will be to ensure that those over 50 years old in uninsured areas receive full vaccination by December 2021.” 

According to the latest statistics from the national Department of Health, the Eastern Cape has vaccinated 42% of its eligible population, the Free State 43%, Gauteng 33%, Limpopo 42%, Mpumalanga 30%, North West 35% and the Northern Cape 37%. DM/MC

Gallery

"Information pertaining to Covid-19, vaccines, how to control the spread of the virus and potential treatments is ever-changing. Under the South African Disaster Management Act Regulation 11(5)(c) it is prohibited to publish information through any medium with the intention to deceive people on government measures to address COVID-19. We are therefore disabling the comment section on this article in order to protect both the commenting member and ourselves from potential liability. Should you have additional information that you think we should know, please email [email protected]"

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.