NCDs ask the SA Human Rights Commission for equity
After years of
During December talks between the SANCDA and SAHRC continued about inequity for NCDs and disabilities. On 18th December 2020 culminated with two major activities occurred: a meeting between with the SAHRC and the laying of a formal complaint on behalf of PLWNCDs.
On December 18 the SANCDA met with the SA Human Rights Commission to lodge a complaint about the state of NCDs+ and disability policy in South Africa.
Comment extended: NHI Bill 29 November 2019
The Portfolio Committee on Health invites stakeholders and interested parties to submit written submissions on the National Health Insurance Bill [B11-2019]
The objective of the Bill is to achieve universal access to quality health care services in the Republic in accordance with section 27 of the Constitution; to establish a National Health Insurance Fund and to set out its powers, functions and governance structures; to provide a framework for the strategic purchasing of health care services by the Fund on behalf of users; to create mechanisms for the equitable, effective and efficient utilisation of the resources of the Fund to meet the health needs of the population; to preclude or limit undesirable, unethical and unlawful practices in relation to the Fund and its users; and to provide for matters connected herewith.
Comments must be submitted to Ms Vuyokazi Majalamba at [email protected] by no later than Friday, 29 November 2019
Enquires can be directed to Ms Vuyokazi Majalamba at [email protected] and 021 403 3770 or 083 709 8522
You can track the processing of the Bill here
The Bill has been tagged/classified as a section 76 bill (ordinary bill affecting provinces). The process of classifying a Bill into one of four categories is called “tagging” and will determine the procedures the Bill must follow to become law. Bills are tagged by the Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM), a Committee consisting of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson and Permanent Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces. They are advised by the Parliamentary Law Adviser. The JTM decides on the classification of the Bill by consensus.
This Bill in substantial measure falls within the ambit of ‘‘health services’’ which is an area listed in Part A of Schedule 4, which makes provision for functional areas of concurrent national and provincial legislative competence.
In the Tongoane judgment the CC held that the tagging test focuses on all the provisions of the Bill in order to determine the extent to which they substantially affect the functional areas listed in Schedule 4 and not on whether any of its provisions are incidental to its substance
The CC further held that the test for tagging must be informed by its purpose. Tagging is not concerned with determining the sphere of government that has the competence to legislate on a matter. Nor is the purpose concerned with preventing interference in the legislative competence of another sphere of government. The process is concerned with the question of how the Bill should be considered by the provinces and in the National Council of Provinces, and how a Bill must be considered by the provincial legislatures depends on whether it affects the provinces. The more it affects the interest, concerns and capacities of the provinces, the more say the provinces should have on its content
SA Health Minister Takes On The President – Bhekisisa
The Article and its contents belong Bhekisisa and the Mail and Gaurdian
Article Written by:
How to defy Zuma – and survive to tell the tale
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi knows the political consequences of firing him weigh heavier than the repercussions of keeping him on in his position; that’s why he reportedly seconded a vote of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma this weekend, says political analyst Steven Friedman.
On Saturday a vote of no confidence is said to have been tabled by ANC NEC member Joel Netshitenzhe at the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting in Irene near Tshwane. Motsoaledi and his deputy Joe Phaahla apparently backed Netshitenzhe.
This would be the second time that Motsoaledi has supported such a motion. Zuma also faced a motion of no confidence in November, tabled by then tourism minister Derek Hanekom. Zuma dismissed Hanekom in a cabinet reshuffle in April , also removing Pravin Gordhan as finance minister.
“Everything in the ANC at the moment has to be understood in terms of the balance of power between the two rival factions – those who support Zuma and those who don’t,” says Friedman. “Clearly Motsoaledi’s reading, and that of his faction, is that there’s not going to be a second cabinet reshuffle anytime soon, and therefore if he wasn’t removed from the cabinet for taking this position the first time, there is no reason why he shouldn’t support such a motion a second time.”
Friedman says Motsoaledi’s strong SACP connections, as well as his “institutional base” in the ANC, makes it difficult for Zuma to act against him. Motsoaledi’s uncle Elias Motsoaledi was one of the eight men, including former President Nelson Mandela, sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia trial in 1964.
Friedman explains: “If you fire Motsoaledi you’re actually declaring war on a faction, or an affiliate of the ANC, whereas Hanekom doesn’t have that kind of institutional base.
“So clearly Zuma took a decision that it was not in his interest to fire an SACP minister who quite clearly had substantial support. His reading of ANC politics was that he would be taking on too much, he would be inviting too much resistance; if he was getting rid of people like Motsoaledi as well.”
Health activists have been expressing “enormous respect” for Motsoaledi’s “bravery and courage” in his ongoing opposition to Zuma. Executive director of the social justice group SECTION27 Mark Heywood says his organisation, as well as the HIV advocacy movement, the Treatment Action Campaign, believes the health minister acted “honourably” by seconding the motion.
Motsoaledi: What the NHI will mean for you – and your tax credits
Our Laura Lopez Gonzalez asks health minister Aaron Motsoaledi five questions about the National Health Insurance (NHI) and your medical aid.
The ANC had a press conference on Monday afternoon at its head offices to announce the outcome of the NEC meeting. Zuma survived with 18 NEC members supporting the motion and 54 being against it.
But Friedman says he’s not surprised: “The only time the ANC has asked a president to step down, which was [former president Thabo] Mbeki [in 2008], there was a huge majority [in the NEC] supporting it. We’re not there yet.
“All the motion may do, if it has any effect at all, is to give both sides a greater sense of who is on their side and who is on the other side. This they will use to continue to do the main thing they’re doing at the moment, which is to contest who will be running the ANC next year.”
This article was updated on June 3 to include the outcome of the ANC’s NEC meeting. The article was originally published before the meeting happened.
