EWN reports that while the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) does not have a position on the vaccination passport issue as yet, its chairperson, Bongani Majola, has raised concern about the potential abuse of the rights of the unvaccinated.
SA is facing the prospect of vaccination-only facilities and buildings, with the debate having heightened after Sunday’s announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that the government was considering this approach. The introduction of a Covid-19 vaccine passport is a polarising subject, with many questioning the laws which the government could use to substantiate a ban of unvaccinated persons from public facilities. Majola said that if people were denied access to places, this would have to be done according to Section 36 of the Constitution, which dealt with the law of general application. However, he stressed that this must be justifiable and reasonable in a democratic society. He illustrated this through the example of unvaccinated persons seeking medical help from public hospitals and clinics under such circumstances. "There is a right to access healthcare and I don’t think it would be constitutional to take away the right when there are less restrictive ways of ensuring that the virus does not spread," Majola pointed out. He indicated that the commission would state its position once the matter was no longer theoretical and when it was known what form or shape the Covid-19 vaccine passport would take.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Theto Mahlakoana at EWN
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