News24 reports that according to the Department of Health (DOH), the Gauteng High Court on Thursday ruled that trade union Solidarity’s application to interdict the advertisement of National Health Insurance (NHI) posts would not be heard as an urgent matter.

DOH spokesperson, Foster Mohale, said the department sought to fill 44 positions as part of the process to establish a fully functional NHI branch, pending the finalisation of the NHI Bill in Parliament. "The union filed an urgent court application in the Pretoria High Court on 12 October, preventing the department from making appointments of competent technical specialists to the NHI branch to assist with the preparations for the functioning of the NHI Fund. The judge has dismissed the application by Solidarity with costs," Mohale reported. Announcing its decision to file the urgent court interdict on 11 October, Solidarity had said the advertisement of the vacancies before the NHI Bill passed the parliamentary process was unlawful. It argued that advertising the vacancies before that process had been concluded demonstrated the department's willingness to violate democratic processes and disregard the concerns of people opposed to the NHI. On Thursday, Solidarity noted that the court did not deal with the substantive merits of the issue and that it was disappointed by the outcome. "The matter is self-evidently urgent. We are looking at possible further avenues and we may proceed with the further appeal of the judgment," the union indicated.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Cebelihle Bhengu at News24

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page