President Cyril Ramaphosa reportedly blindsided businesses and business leaders close to him by signing the National Health Insurance into law this week despite giving them strong indications that he would not.
The Sunday Times said the president is now ‘open’ to more talks with the business leaders, which he ignored, even as his cabinet defends the signing.That the government has forced through the NHI while ignoring the pleas of businesses, unions, workers, legal experts, and parliamentary legal advice has been a common criticism against the process for some time.
Having raised their concerns every step of the way, their efforts were for nought, with the bill being pushed through National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces with no changes to address these issues.
“We need to ask if the process has been fair to those involved, and a proper appreciation of the implications for the stakeholders that are interested and affected by this legislation,” Kirby said. “Public consultation cannot just be a matter of procedure but must include proper consideration of the input received, as spelt out in the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act . It is hard to believe that there has been proper consideration when draft legislation is finalised without change after a comment period,” she said.
However, Constitutional law scholar Pierre de Vos said that this is misleading because the law doesn’t require Parliament to actually adopt any of the arguments made during consultations, only to provide an opportunity to make them.