STAFF REPORTER |
THE Universities Alliance South Africa (UASA) representing students and staff across South African universities is preparing to file a lawsuit against several public universities over their mandatory vaccine policies.
The alliance has demanded that institutions of higher learning must abandon their vaccine mandate policies by the end of business day on Tuesday or face legal action.
The UASA said that the COVID-19 mandatory vaccine policy must be declared unconstitutional as it violates the rights to human dignity, bodily integrity, education and labour relations.
The Stephen G May attorneys released a statement on behalf of UASA. The Alliance said that it is against the mandatory vaccine policies implemented by numerous institutions, “it is irrational, medically justified and in any event wholly outdated.”
The Stephen G May attorneys act on behalf of UASA, which comprises students, parents and staff from universities throughout the Republic of South Africa, as well as for the African Christian Democratic Party.
“Our clients, both of whom act in terms of section 38 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa in the interests of their members and others (“affected persons”) to defend the constitutional rights of affected persons at universities through various means, including, if it cannot be avoided, through litigation,” the attorneys said.
UASA said that the vaccine mandate policies deny university students and staff their right to choose, “which is an affront to their dignity.”
UASA, has engaged in a consultative process with several universities.
During the processes, UASA identified critical legal, procedural, and scientific shortcomings.
“From these consultative attempts, it would be readily apparent that our clients’ stance … [is] a grave reservation about the present mandates, which rob those people affected by them of, inter alia, their right to choose, which itself is an affront to their dignity,” said UASA.
The statement indicated that if the South African tertiary institutions fail to meet the demands the matter will be headed to the constitutional court.
“Both our clients expected that universities in SA, having taken months in many instances to formulate their mandates under the now historical Delta variant, would have followed the evidence closely and the effect of the Omicron variant, more especially given that these Covid-19 vaccine mandates constitute drastic and unprecedented measures which encroach on a raft of human rights, not least of which are the rights to human dignity, bodily integrity, education and fair labour relations.”
UASA believes that vaccine mandates constitute forced experimentation.
“Requiring staff, students and other stakeholders to receive into their bodies experimental COVID-19 vaccines that are not historically tested and acceptable attenuated vaccines. And requiring individuals to present proof of vaccination by COVID-19 vaccine to access university campuses and to continue with studies and work, alternatively to be subjected to discriminatory constraints.”
Meanwhile, the University of Cape Town’s Vaccine Mandate Panel will on Wednesday hold a meeting to draft UCT vaccine Mandate Policy. The university has encouraged students to participate in the session to make their voices heard.
Earlier last week, the University of Johannesburg students embarked on a protest against vaccine mandate policies at the Auckland Park campus.
The students have until the end of March to get fully vaccinated, the UJ vaccine policy requires staff and students to be fully vaccinated to gain access to the facilities.
The Wits University Student Representative Council (SRC) president Cebolenkosi Khumalo said that they are rejecting the vaccine mandate policies.
Khumalo said that the vaccine mandate violates the rights of the students and staff who do not want to vaccinate.
–Inside Education
