NHI: Afriforum intensifies fight after NCOP approves the bill

The civil rights organisation has sent a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa demanding that he refer the bill back to the National Assembly. The letter emphasises the dangers of NHI and warns the president that AfriForum will not back down while he turns his back on the health of South Africans. Furthermore, the organisation approached opposition parties about a joint legal action against NHI, should the bill be passed into law.

nine provinces voted in favour of the bill

Delegates from eight of the nine provinces voted in favour of the bill on Wednesday afternoon (December 6) in the latest session of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), with only the Western Cape’s delegates voting against it. This means that Ramaphosa is now able to pass the bill into law or to refer it back to the legislature due to its obvious unconstitutionality.

Bill needs to be revised

According to Louis Boshoff, AfriForum’s spokesperson on NHI, the organisation was expecting this approval due to the ANC’s absolute majority in the NCOP. That is why AfriForum continues to follow a twofold strategy in which public pressure is placed on the president not to pass the bill and for opposition parties and pressure groups to unite in a joint Constitutional Court case against NHI. Ramaphosa has a constitutional obligation to have a bill that raises any concerns with him be sent back to be revised, while the Constitutional Court can ultimately rule on the constitutionality of a bill.

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“The ANC’s ideological blindness has been shown to the world anew. After almost every health expert in the country has given some kind of warning or suggested amendments, the ANC simply continues to implement their centralist plans without adjustment,” says Boshoff. “A government that considers their own position of power more important than the health of the citizens of the country – can they stoop any lower?”