Solidarity in court this week over NHI appointments 

6 February 2024

Solidarity feels confident on the eve of the first of a series of court cases in 2024 against the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill. This court case starts this week.

The High Court is asked to review a decision by the Department of Health to advertise and fill senior posts with a view to the NHI before this system having been approved by Parliament.

This case will be heard on Thursday and, should it be decided in Solidarity’s favour, it would be the first of several setbacks for the government’s ill-conceived NHI plans.

According to Anton van der Bijl, Solidarity’s deputy chief executive for legal matters, the advertising of the jobs in August 2022 was illegal in itself. 

“By having done this, the government has shown just how much it wants to steamroller the NHI through without heeding its consequences – or heeding people’s strong opposition to it. Even Pres. Ramaphosa has already said that the NHI will happen, whether we like it or not. 

“This must be challenged. Legal processes are in place that must be followed, and jobs cannot be advertised for a scheme that does not exist yet, and may, legally, not exist,” Van der Bijl said.

Solidarity intends to stop the NHI in its entirety even when Pres. Ramaphosa’s signature is all that is now being required for it to become law.

Solidarity Chief Executive, Dr Dirk Hermann, says this weeks’ court action is only the first of a series of legal actions about the NHI that Solidarity will pursue in 2024.

“We are also going to challenge the constitutionality of the certificate of need by which medical practitioners will be told where they may practise in terms of the NHI. This is yet another major step in the battle and we already have a court date for it.

“Eventually, we are going to challenge the NHI Act in its entirety in court. The court papers for this case are ready and as soon as Pres. Ramaphosa signs it into law we will be heading to court in what we call ‘the mother of all court cases’. That is how dangerous we believe these NHI plans to be.

“The president has already been put on terms, and should he proceed to implement the NHI we will be able to hold him liable in person,” Hermann said. Read Solidarity's arguments here.

Issued by Anton van der Bijl, Deputy Chief Executive, Legal Matters, Solidarity, 6 February 2024