AfriForum to take on a unique legal battle to fight NHI after ratification 

14 May 2024

The civil rights organisation AfriForum strongly condemns President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to push through the National Health Insurance Bill (NHI) on Wednesday. AfriForum is convinced that this bill is unconstitutional and unenforceable. The organisation is ready to oppose the implementation of the NHI all the way to the highest court and will sign a resolution on the same day that the bill is signed that validates this sentiment.

AfriForum intends to stop the implementation of NHI by not simply bringing an application against the implementation of the bill, but by suing the government for the unimaginable damage that NHI can cause to South Africans’ well-being. Some issues that will be highlighted in AfriForum’s court documents are:

that there is no reasonable expectation that the bill will succeed in promoting access to health care,

that the NHI bill will grant excessive power to the Minister of Health,

that it will infringe on health workers’ right to freely exercise their profession,

that it does not meet the requirement of clarity and comprehensibility for a law and,

that it infringes on the fundamental rights of patients’ autonomy to be able to decide for themselves about the choice of the best treatment.

AfriForum is not opposed to reasonable measures to improve the existing health care for all citizens in South Africa but is opposed to this irrational way of achieving it and especially where it will encroach on private health care and where quality health care is still offered.

The organisation intends to be given the opportunity, through an action process, to present expert testimony to the court that the implementation of this law is unaffordable and will lead to an unaffordable tax burden for the already overtaxed taxpayers. Furthermore, that it will bring about the end of the independence of private health care and will force medical workers to leave the country.

According to Louis Boshoff, Campaign Officer at AfriForum, Ramaphosa’s decision is based on 100% politics, 0% health and 0% common sense. “NHI needs a hundred times as much money to function as was allocated to it in the budget and yet Ramaphosa decided to hastily ratify it two weeks before the election. This is clearly just the next step in the ANC’s election campaign.”

The NHI bill was approved by both houses of parliament during 2023, thanks to the ANC’s absolute majority, while opposition parties opposed it throughout. Several health experts and economists have warned that NHI is unworkable and could cause immense damage to the economy and health sector. Therefore, a number of organisations have already indicated that they will also challenge its constitutionality in court. AfriForum also hosted a conference a week ago in which possible solutions for health care in South Africa were discussed in light of the threats related to NHI.

Boshoff further argues that almost all of the ANC’s statements about NHI are riddled with lies. “It is immoral and cruel to sell health fairy tales to voters, when there are absolutely no adequate resources to deliver on these promises. Again, this only means that NHI must be stopped.”

Tomorrow, after the signing of the bill, AfriForum will hand over a letter at the Union Building in which the organisation’s complete legal strategy against NHI will be presented. With this, the government will be placed on terms as to what the legal consequences of the ratification of the NHI will be.

Time: 15:00 – or directly after the question-and-answer session with the Minister of Health.

Place: Reception, Union Building

This handover will also be broadcast live on AfriForum’s social media platforms.

Issued by Louis Boshoff, Campaign Officer, AfriForum, 14 May 2024