DA wants SAHRC to investigate ‘failure to roll out vaccines’

Even with slow vaccine distribution, South Africa did not inoculate a single person against Covid-19 during the Easter weekend.

The DA says it is disappointed and that it is approaching the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to “urgently launch an investigation into the government’s tardy and criminally slow vaccine rollout strategy”.

The party has described its latest move against the government as a way of exploring the legal avenues on the slow vaccination and procurement.

“For the past couple of months, South Africans have been pleaded with to be patient as misleading words such as ‘secured doses’ have been bandied about to create a false sense of productivity by the South African government.”

“We cannot continue hoping that the timeline which keeps on being adjusted for the impossible delays will be met, because nothing has gone according to the government’s plan to date. The process has been marred by breathtaking tardiness.”

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The party said would approach the SAHRC to launch an investigation into the entire vaccination process to date.

This is after earlier this year it lodged an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court to compel the government to develop and release a comprehensive plan for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

“The reality is that the progressive right to health is enshrined in the Constitution and the SAHRC is best placed, squarely so, with launching such an investigation and making binding findings. The commission has yet to show its constitutionally empowered teeth with any of the human rights violations in the recent while. This is their opportunity now to do right by the people of South Africa,” the party said.

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