Bantu Holomisa joins AfriForum’s court bid to end state of disaster

The government’s decision to further extend South Africa’s National State of Disaster for another month has been met with resistance by opposition parties and now faces a raft of legal challenges.

United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa has joined AfriForum’s court bid to end the state of disaster.

The lobby group started legal action in February to have the policy nullified, arguing that there is currently no disaster and therefore no justification for restricting the freedom of citizens under the guise of an emergency.

Holomisa said the extension was an abuse of power: “There was sufficient consensus among the 10 political parties that this state of disaster is nothing than an abuse of power because the scientific results on the ground indicate that there is no disaster.”

Meanwhile, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) has reiterated the importance of COVID-19 vaccine recipients reporting any adverse events.

Sahpra experts on Wednesday gave an update on their surveillance mechanisms monitoring the safety and efficacy of coronavirus vaccines approved and rolled out in the country.

Chairperson of the regulator’s Pharmacovigilance advisory committee professor Marc Blockman said: “I think we are entering a very different phase of the pandemic. We are moving into what we are calling a mitigation phase and we are no longer trying to contain the virus and we are learning to live with COVID.”

Sahpra CEO doctor Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela said the regulator was in talks with pharmaceutical company Pfizer as well as the US Food and Drug Administration following the release of a document containing a list of possible adverse events after immunization with its COVID-19 jab.

“We know that one of the high-risk situations is when people congregate indoors without ventilation.”

Experts have, however, stressed all COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective in protecting against severe forms of the disease.

-EWN

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