Speaker must reconsider urgent debate on SA’s Covid-19 vaccination-plan and allow an ad hoc committee to be formed to monitor the vaccine rollout
04 January 2021
In light of Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s briefing yesterday, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, to again request an urgent debate of national importance regarding South Africa's Covid-19 vaccination-plan.
Minister Mkhize’s briefing has raised more questions than answers, to the extent that the DA Shadow Minister for Health, Siviwe Gwarube, has submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application in order to shed more light on an issue that is potentially endangering millions of South Africans.
The PAIA application will focus, amongst other things, on:
the procurement process and how government intends to safeguard procurement funds against wide-scale looting and corruption as seen with personal protective equipment (PPE) and other relief funds; and
the distribution mechanisms and methods of the vaccines on national, provincial and local levels to ensure that there are no delays.
The simple fact of the matter is that Parliament has a critical oversight role to play and cannot wait until well into the middle of the first quarter to perform this vital duty. To expect a debate of national importance to still hold relevance when the plan should have already been enacted at that time is foolish and would serve little purpose. There are aspects of the Covid-19 vaccination plan that deserves serious and immediate interrogation.
Government has already dropped the ball a number of times during the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. From Covid-19 funds lining corrupt pockets while the most vulnerable in society struggled to get their grants paid, health systems in various provinces buckling under the pressure to deal with Covid-19 patients, irrational regulations preying on civil liberties and hampering aid efforts, to government missing the initial deadline for payment to the COVAX initiative twice.
It is the Speakers’ duty to ensure that Parliament does not become Constitutionally delinquent. An ad hoc committee should be established as a matter of urgency to oversee the roll out of the country’s vaccination program.
Millions of South Africans depend on this vaccination strategy to ensure that the Coronavirus pandemic’s constant attack on their lives and livelihoods are halted. They need to know the exact details of government’s plan. They need to know that their best interests are of the highest regard to the Executive. Without an urgent debate of national importance, Parliament can hardly assure South Africans that this is indeed the case.
Statement issued by Natasha Mazzone MP, Chief Whip of the Official Opposition, 4 January 2021
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Time is of the essence, Madame Speaker, and we have run out
31 December 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) takes note of the response by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise MP, to our request for the urgent re-convening of Parliament to debate the South African government’s Covid-19 vaccine plan.
On Tuesday, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that South Africans can only look forward to start receiving the Covid-19 vaccine in the second quarter of 2021, the DA wrote to the Speaker requesting that she reconvene Parliament on an urgent basis before the end of the year in order for Parliament to consider, by way of debate, the government’s vaccine plans.
The Speaker’s response acknowledges that “the Minister of Health is still to provide details of the vaccine roll out plan” and that “the plan is a matter of ongoing concern for all South Africans and warrants the continued oversight of Parliament” – yet she draws the conclusion that it is appropriate for the matter to be pushed out to February, “in view of the fact that the vaccine will now be available in the second quarter of 2021”.
South Africa clocked over 17 000 new cases yesterday. Hundreds of thousands of South Africans have lost fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, children, teachers, neighbours, colleagues and friends to the virus. Hundreds of thousands more have seen poorly planned lockdowns and unreasonable restrictions on trade and enterprise cost them their businesses, jobs, and income. In the coming months and years, millions will suffer under the poor economic conditions brought on by the ANC government’s abysmal pandemic-response and lack of planning.
South Africans deserve to know what the details of government’s vaccine plan is – and they deserve to know immediately, because we can’t afford more waves of infection or rolling lockdowns.
As a body with oversight over the actions of the Executive, Parliament should not be content to wait on the Executive to come up with the answers in their own time. Urgent accountability is required, and Parliament fails in its duty by not demanding answers. The DA will be writing to the Speaker today, urging her to reconsider the scheduling of the vaccine debate.
Just like the second quarter is too late for the vaccine, so February is too late for a debate of this importance. The Speaker’s decision demonstrates that the ANC still fail to understand that time is of the essence, and we are out of it.
Statement issued by Natasha Mazzone MP, Chief Whip of the Official Opposition, 31 December 2020
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DA calls for Parliament to reconvene before New Year's Eve in order to debate Covid vaccination plan
29 December 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has today written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise MP, to request that she reconvenes Parliament urgently to conduct a debate of urgent national importance on South Africa's Covid-19 vaccination-plan before or on 31 December 2020. After the “Annus Horibilis” that we have just gone through, we need to start 2021 with a clear, no misinterpreted plan. Misinforming parliament is a crime.
South Africans were initially told that vaccines covering up to 10% of the population will be administered in the first quarter of 2021. In his address to the nation last night, President Ramaphosa moved the goalposts to the second quarter of 2021.
Coupled with reports that South Africa missed its second payment deadline for the World Health Organisation's vaccination programme; indications of large-scale PPE-corruption; and our government's generally poor track record when it comes to delivery, it is not unreasonable to be concerned that South Africans will be left behind while the rest of the world opens up their now Covid-free economies and resume normal life in 2021.
We believe that an urgent debate of national importance will allow members of Parliament to critically engage cabinet ministers such as Tito Mboweni, Zweli Mkhize, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on their respective Departments' plans and the alternatives they considered (such as the DA's proposal to halt the bail-out of SAA and redirect the money to acquiring vaccines). The debate can easily be held in a virtual plenary before the clock ticks into the new year.
As we approach the new year South Africans deserve to know the truth about the government's vaccination plans and what awaits our nation in 2021. We can not afford to get locked into a cycle of lock-downs that damage our economy and destroys lives and livelihoods.
The DA will do everything in its power to ensure that those responsible for ensuring a Covid-free 2021 are held to account.
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Statement issued by Natasha Mazzone MP, Chief Whip of the Official Opposition, 29 December 2020
