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The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has stated that a general law mandating Covid-19 vaccination in South Africa would not necessarily be a human rights infringement.

According to the SAHRC, a general law compelling South Africans to get vaccinated would be constitutionally sound under the right circumstances. However, the commission has also called on the government to explore all options to encourage voluntary vaccination first.

There has been extensive public debate around mandatory vaccination, and the government has said vaccine certificates will be rolled out soon. Some businesses were likely to deny services to those who weren't vaccinated.

"For many, the question is whether compelling a person to take the Covid-19 vaccination would violate human rights entrenched in our Constitution," the SAHRC said in a statement.

The Constitution protects several individual rights. These include the right to health, life, freedom of religion, a healthy environment and freedom and security of person. The right of security in and control over one's body and the right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experiments without one's informed consent are included.

Limitation is reasonable

However, the Constitution does provide for the Bill of Rights to be subject to limitations.

"Therefore, the rights of individuals, save for non-derogable rights (such as the rights to life and human dignity) can be limited in terms of section 36 of the Constitution, firstly, when the limitation of these rights is done in terms of a law of general application, that is, if the state passes a law that articulates a general compulsory Covid-19 vaccination regime. Secondly, to the extent that the limitation itself is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom," the SAHRC said.

This means it would be "constitutionally permissible" to require people to vaccinate "provided that this is done in accordance with the processes stipulated in the Constitution", it said.

"Given that the pandemic is an existential crisis that affects all human beings and implicates both rights and responsibilities, it is highly likely that a general law mandating vaccination will pass constitutional muster," said the commission.

However, the commission also stated that it supported voluntary vaccination and believed that the benefits outweighed people "defending their rights, for example, to bodily integrity and perpetuating the suffering of the whole nation".

"In our view, if the state decides to compel all eligible people in the country to take the Covid-19 vaccination, it should do so as the last resort. The commission is not convinced at this stage that all efforts have been made, particularly by the state, to educate people on the need for and workings of the vaccines in an effort to convince them to voluntarily vaccinate," the SAHRC said.

The Presidency has announced the list of successful candidates who have been nominated for consideration to become the country's next chief justice.

A nominations panel has put forward eight candidates (listed in alphabetical order):

Judge President John Hlophe

Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga

Justice Mandisa Maya

Dr Wallace Amos Mgoqi

Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane

Judge President Dunstan Mlambo

Advocate Alan Nelson, SC

Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo

Municipal councilors in South Africa’s economic hub, Johannesburg, have picked Mpho Moerane as the city’s third mayor in less than three months.

The post of mayor was left vacant when Jolidee Matongo died in a car accident on Sept 18. Matongo served less than two months after replacing Geoff Makhubo who died from Covid-19 complications.

Moerane’s election on Friday was uncontested. The former mayoral committee member for environment and infrastructure services is a member of the ruling African National Congress and will lead the party’s efforts to retain control of South Africa’s biggest city in municipal elections on November 1.

South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has been appointed a governor of the New Development Bank.

The bank on Friday issued a notice on the stock exchange news service, providing an update on its new directors.

Godongwana's appointment has been effective from 17 August 2021, according to the notice.

Just two weeks prior, he was appointed finance minister of South Africa, taking over the reins from Tito Mboweni.

The New Development Bank has a board of five governors - each from the five BRICS nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The other governors are:

Paulo Guedes, Minister of the Economy for Brazil;

Anton Siluanov, Minister of Finance for Russia;

Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance for India - Sitharaman is the chairperson of the board of governors; and

Kun Liu, Minister of Finance for China.

Director appointments to the bank include four representatives from the finance ministries of Russia, India and China.

President Cyril Ramaphosa led the inaugural Vooma Vaccination Weekend on Friday, hoping to mobilise citizens and people living in South Africa to get vaccinated to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Government is rolling out its nationwide vaccination drive on October 1 and 2 with the hopes of vaccinating at least half a million people within the weekend.

The public and private health sectors, organised labour, business, and community- and faith-based formations will join forces in the vaccination drive themed Vooma Vaccination Weekend.

Speaking in Katlehong, in Gauteng, Ramaphosa said vaccination was by far the best defence against Covid-19.

He added that it was possible to vaccinate 17-million people by the end of this year (government’s target) as other countries were able to achieve that.

"Vaccines are safe and easy to receive. They protect people against serious illness, hospitalisation and death. And when the majority of people in the country are vaccinated, the nation will experience a greater sense of freedom and safety in social interactions and economic activity,” he said.

He urged people to protect themselves, their families and friends by getting vaccinated.

Vaccines are free and vaccination centres, including pop-ups, will be open all day on Friday and Saturday, across the country as part of the Vooma Vaccination Weekend.

The judge who presided over the case against apartheid-era cop Joao Rodrigues, charged with the murder of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol, said he warned the delays in the case would favour Rodrigues.

This, as the matter was officially removed from the court roll.

The late Rodrigues was charged with the murder of anti-apartheid activist Timol, but died before the trial could start.

On Thursday, Judge Ramarumo Monama officially removed the matter from the roll after Rodrigues, 82, died in his home at the beginning of September.

The trial was delayed when Rodrigues applied to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), appealing a judgment that dismissed his application for a permanent stay of prosecution in June 2019.

In June 2021, the SCA also dismissed his bid.

"You will recall on numerous occasions that I said do not allow the intermit and intervening applications because they are going to delay and the delay is favourable to the accused," Monama said.

In 2018, Rodrigues was charged with Timol's 1971 murder after a second inquest into the death ruled that Timol's death was not suicide.

Timol's nephew, Imtiaz Cajee, who was in court on Thursday, spent a decade calling for justice in the matter.

Monama said: "I am aware of the circumstances in this matter, and I am aware of the pain that this matter, particularly in the way it was handled, it caused a lot of pain to the family. I am aware of it, and all I can say is that the matter is removed from the roll. There is someone who has been working very hard for years."

A group of African National Congress (ANC) activists, known as the Strategic Dialogue Group (SDG) has called on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to immediately refer charges against those found to have acted unethically and illegally in the awarding of the tender for, and everyone who unduly benefitted from, the Digital Vibes contract.

On Wednesday President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the release of the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU’s) report into the Digital Vibes contract.

The SIU report found that former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s department awarded a R150-million contract, in 2019, to Digital Vibes to provide communication services for government’s National Health Insurance (NHI) and, later, its Covid-19 response.

Irregular expenditure amounting to about R150-million, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure between R72-million and R80-million, were incurred by the Department of Health (DoH), according to the findings.

The report also revealed that former acting director-general of the DoH Dr Anban Pillay, should be criminally prosecuted for financial misconduct.

The SDG noted and welcomed the report, saying the Digital Vibes scandal is one of the most “repugnant episodes in post-apartheid corruption” perpetrated by some civil servants and public representatives.

“The ruinous effects of their misdeeds on the health system and the public sector in its entirety are incalculable. While the criminal justice system acts, as it must, against the wolves and their friends, society and the African National Congress should engage in a national dialogue about a post-state capture covenant intended to institutionalise probity in the public sector and to socialise the attributes required for those who make themselves available for public office, among others,” the SDG said.

The SDG stated that Ministers and Deputy Ministers appointed by the President should be subjected to Confirmation Hearings in Parliament, with the participation of civil society.

Meanwhile, the group commended the work of the SIU in the fight against corruption.

National Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has promised to fast-track the matter of corruption in the Digital Vibes tender as a matter of urgency and promised that all officials implicated will be served with suspension letters before the end of business on Thursday.

Addressing the media following the release of the much anticipated report from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), Phaahla said his department wished to fast-track the matter so that more focus as directed towards the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as other department work.

The SIU report found that former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize’s department awarded a R150-million contract, in 2019, to Digital Vibes to provide communication services for government’s National Health Insurance and, later, its Covid-19 response.

Irregular expenditure amounting to about R150-million, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure of between R72-million and R80-million, were incurred by the Department of Health (DoH), according to the findings.

The report also revealed that former acting director-general of the DoH Dr Anban Pillay, should be criminally prosecuted for financial misconduct.

“We have noted that there are serious allegations against a number of departmental senior officials, notably that of our deputy director-general responsible for health regulations and compliance, Dr Anban Pillay, who at the time of the awarding of this contract was the acting director-general, when the contracts of communication were awarded to the company Digital Vibes,” said Phaahla.

He promised that Pillay would be out of the office by the end of the day.

The department has also completed the review of the Ngubane and Co. report and the SIU report that outlines possible misconduct by nine officials.

The Minister reported that three of the nine officials mentioned in the report, were not employed by the DoH but were from the Government Printing Works, and the departments of Home Affairs and Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

DoH acting director-general Dr Nicholas Crisp has written to the director generals of the Government Communication and Information System Department, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the CEO of the Government Printing Works to inform them of actions taken by the DoH.

"I've spoken to the implicated officials over the phone and the lawyers are currently preparing the letters for [precautionary suspensions]. These incidents shouldn't happen. But sometimes people are sucked into a process, willingly or unwillingly, and unable to get themselves out of the process, or don't realise soon enough that the process is flawed,” he said.

Phaahla said whistleblowing was still an important factor in bringing about justice in government.

“We fully understand the public concern and interest in this matter because it involves allegations of misappropriation of public funds in the middle of a major fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, which has so far cost the country substantial spending of unbudgeted funds, as well as costing many, many lives - we have already passed 87 000 recorded lives lost from this Covid-19 - and also livelihoods,” he said.

Phaahla promised that the SIU would be briefed on the process taking place within his department.

He assured that his department was committed to clean governance and asked South Africans to have confidence in the department, promising that it would do everything in its power to handle the matter guided by the public service code of ethics.

He apologised to South Africans for the devastating saga in his department and promised that nothing would be swept under the carpet.

He said it was not just a question of image, with the matter having brought shame to his department, but also a question of not letting the matter affect the capacity for service delivery within the DoH.

“We take very seriously the evidence gathered by the SIU and have noted the view that there may also be scope for criminal charges. These...

The COO of the Office of the Public Protector (PPSA), Charles Mohalaba, has tendered his resignation from the Chapter 9 institution, giving 24 hours' notice of his departure this week.

Mohalaba confirmed his resignation to News24, saying "my time at the PPSA is a period I wish to quickly forget about in my whole professional career."

Pressed for more comment, he did not respond.

Mohalaba is the second COO to resign under Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's tenure. Former COO Basani Baloyi left under a cloud of controversy in 2019, alleging "rot at the core" of Mkhwebane's office.

Baloyi approached the Constitutional Court in 2020 after her unsuccessful application to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to declare that Mkhwebane had failed in her duties as the Public Protector and in dismissing Baloyi the previous year, alleging Mkhwebane had acted in her own self-interest.

Mkhwebane embarked on a sweeping purge in 2019, firing Baloyi and suspending four senior officials and investigators: executive manager Pona Mogaladi, chief investigator Abongile Madiba, chief investigator Lesedi Sekele and senior investigator Tebogo Kekana.

Public Protector spokesperson Oupa Segwale did not reply to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has been given another three months to complete his State Capture Inquiry report, after the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria found that not granting the extension would "disadvantage the whole country".

Had Zondo not succeeded in his application for an extension of the commission's lifespan, he would have had until Thursday to hand over its final report to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

He told the High Court that this was "not possible".

Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela on Wednesday said that "it wouldn’t make any sense at all" for the court not to extend the commission's lifespan so that Zondo could complete his long-awaited report on the alleged "capture" of large chunks of government by private interests - at massive cost to the South African economy.

"It would not only be unreasonable, but it would also disadvantage everyone, the whole country. Everyone has an interest in this matter," he said.

Earlier this week, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola raised objections to Zondo's application and described the three months he had sought to complete his report as "excessive", particularly because of the "financial repercussions" to his department.

Costs capped

In papers filed in the High Court, department Director-General Doctor Mashabane said the minister wanted the future costs of the commission to be capped at R15-million.

Lamola also wanted the commission's lifespan to be extended by only six weeks.

A day after filing that objection, however, Lamola withdrew it - on the basis that the department had received "an assurance" that the matters it had raised "will be attended to in due course".

Advocate Paul Kennedy SC, for the commission, on Wednesday told Maumela "that the issue that has been raised by the Director-General, signing on behalf of the Minister is a matter that has been discussed between the chairperson [Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo] and the highest officials, including the president".

These issues would be further addressed through discussions between the government and inquiry officials, he said.

In 2017, when the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria endorsed then Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's "State of Capture" report, which ordered the establishment of a judicial inquiry into state capture, it ordered that the president was "required to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the commission of inquiry is adequately resourced by the National Treasury".

In other words, it remains Ramaphosa’s court-ordered responsibility to ensure the commission has the money it needs to complete its work.

The Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution has however criticised Zondo for being "vague" over how he would use the three months he had asked for to complete his report.

Advocate Ofentse Motlhasedi, for CASAC, told Maumela that the council had invited Zondo to "file a replying affidavit and give this court a plan of action of how it will use the three months so as to ensure that this further extension is hopefully the final extension and that a report would be forthcoming".

Zondo had chosen not to reply to this request.