/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

Today, Solidarity started legal action against the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act. The legal process started today within the first hour after pres. Cyril Ramaphosa signed the law.

As a first step, the government was formally warned not to implement the Act. The probability is high that the government will ignore the warning, which will automatically lead to Solidarity serving court documents within ten days. 
According to Solidarity, the NHI is irrational and unaffordable. 

Solidarity’s Deputy Chief Executive of legal matters, Anton van der Bijl, says the government is unable to fund the NHI and the consequences are simply that ordinary South African taxpayers will have to pay for it.

“The NHI is going to cause unprecedented damage to taxpayers, not to mention the South African economy. That is why the NHI must be declared unconstitutional, and this is what we will try to achieve through the courts,” said Van der Bijl. 

According to him, Solidarity’s legal team has the necessary court documents ready and the legal battle against the NHI has officially begun. Solidarity will announce the contents of the court documents at a later time.

Dr Dirk Hermann, chief executive of Solidarity, describes the NHI as reckless and labels its ratification as populist and irresponsible. Expectations that cannot be met are created.

“With this law, the government wants to centralise all health care in South Africa. The NHI is not simply a funding model, but a comprehensive state-controlled looting pit that will fail. 

“With this, the government also wants to prescribe where doctors are allowed to practise, which doctor a patient may visit and which medicine may be prescribed for you,” says Hermann. 

Solidarity tackles this battle head-on and considers it a matter of life and death for both public and private health care.

“South Africa already has a system that ensures access to health care, but unfortunately this system has become critically ill due to the septic government’s incompetence. And yet this very government’s deadly grip has now only strengthened further by making the NHI a law despite warnings and opposition from all over,” said Hermann. 

Issued by Solidarity