Tag: constitutional right

The Certificate of Need (CON) provisions in the National Health Act 2003 will require doctors to apply for CONs for everything they do and plan to do, including opening a practice and medical equipment they want to use.

On 18 April 2023, the Constitutional Court handed down judgment in National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) v Trenstar (Pty) Ltd (Trenstar). It had to consider the interpretation of section 76(1)(b) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), which prohibits employers from using replacement labour during a lock-out unless the lock-out is in response to a strike.

Tattoo discrimination is a very real problem in South African business, but do organisations have an inkpot to stand on? People with tattoos often face discrimination. They’ve been dismissed from their company, had their roles changed – or struggled to get a promotion – and they’ve been judged on the basis of their ink.

The Labour Appeal Court recently issued an order refusing to grant leave to appeal against the judgment of the Labour Court, after the Labour Court reinstated an employee who was dismissed for voicing her dissatisfaction with the company’s policy on wearing high-heeled shoes on mine premises.

In June 2022, the Pretoria High Court declared the certificate-of-need (CON) provisions in the 2003 National Health Act to be invalid. Although this matter has received little attention in the press, the implications are far reaching for government’s proposed health reforms.

Banning health insurance options and scrapping the move to introduce affordable medical scheme cover demonstrates a flagrant disregard for individuals' rights to enter into voluntary private contracts to protect themselves from unforeseen out-of-pocket payments when catastrophe strikes.

When seeking care from a hospital or doctor, patients will now be required to present their proof of registration with the National Health Insurance (NHI) Fund to access healthcare services. Registration can be refused. Never before have South Africans’ constitutional right to access to healthcare been so brazenly threatened by a power-hungry government. Civil society must resist the proposed NHI scheme with all its might.

The government has made provision for both basic education, and further education, in the South African Constitution. Section 29 (1) states, “Everyone has the right to- a) basic education, including adult basic education; and b) further education, which the state, through reasonable measures, must make progressively available and accessible.”

The Johannesburg High Court discussed the balance between the constitutional right to freedom of expression and the required respect for inherent dignity ‘to all human beings’.