A study shows that 40% of Africans are opposed to mandatory vaccinations. Image: Canva
Vaccine mandate for SA will be opposed as ‘violation of personal freedoms’
‘The state should not have power to force people to get vaccinated against their will under a vaccine mandate’ – civil rights group.
A study shows that 40% of Africans are opposed to mandatory vaccinations. Image: Canva
A South African civil rights organisation has drawn a line in the sand regarding a potential vaccine mandate for the country saying that it will oppose the “unjustifiable violation of personal freedoms”.
AfriForum said that it had written to President Cyril Rampahosa to inform him that in its view, vaccine mandates were “unjustifiable violations of personal freedoms” and that it will oppose a vaccine mandate if the government decided to implement one.
The organisation said that it had written the letter to the president in response to his address to the nation on 28 November, wherein he stated that the government had set up a task team that will undertake broad consultations on making vaccination mandatory for specific activities and locations.
In the letter, AfriForum highlighted how in an address to the nation in February 2021, Ramaphosa had promised that vaccines would not be mandatory in the country.
“I want to be clear, nobody will be forced to take this vaccine, I want to repeat, nobody will be forced to take this vaccine. Nobody will be forbidden from traveling to wherever they want to travel to, including from enrolling at school, or from taking part in any public activity if they have not been vaccinated,” Ramaphosa said.
President reneging on vaccine mandate promise
However, the fact that his administration was now considering doing exactly the opposite and going back on his promise was “very concerning,” AfriForum said.
“On the basis of the principle of freedom of choice and constitutional right to bodily autonomy, if the government implements vaccine mandates, AfriForum will take the necessary steps to oppose them,” Ernst Roets, head of policy and action at AfriForum said.
“If we support state coercion with matters we personally agree on at the moment, we open the door for the state to be able to impose something on us in the future with which we ourselves may have a problem in principle,” Roets said.
“State coercion is and remains dangerous, regardless of its subject matter, and we should not be giving the government consent to use it in an increasingly expanded array of situations. Vaccine mandates are unjustifiable in a free society,” Roets said.
