Public health, human rights and justice at the heart of case before the Constitutional Court
A case coming before the Constitutional Court holds serious consequences for public health and the fight against TB in South Africa. South Africa has one of the highest TB incidents in the world. TB is the leading cause of death in South Africa and has been for many years. HIV co-infection and the increasing prevalence of drug resistant TB add to the urgency of addressing the TB epidemic. Doing so should be a top priority of the state.
Prisons are especially conducive to TB transmission and detained people are at especially high risk of contracting TB. It is not possible to address TB in the general population without addressing it in the incarcerated population. Still, the Department of Correctional Services has utterly failed in its duty to prevent the spread of TB in prisons. A recent decision of the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) would allow this to continue without consequences for the Department.
On 6 August 2012, the Treatment Action Campaign, Centre for Applied Legal Studies, and Wits Justice Project, represented by SECTION27, were admitted as amici curiae (friends of the court) in the matter between Dudley Lee and the Minister of Correctional Services (Minister).
At the heart of the case are the rights to health and conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity. The issue in the case is whether the law must be developed in order to give effect to these rights.
Dudley Lee entered Pollsmoor Prison as a healthy man in April 2000. In June 2003, he was diagnosed with TB. In September 2004-over four years after entering prison-Mr. Lee was acquitted of the charges against him and released. Mr. Lee then sued the Minister in the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town for negligently causing him to become infected with TB.