Cape Town - Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele has confirmed there was no decision yet on mandatory Covid-19 vaccines as the issue was still being dealt with by the government.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa formed a task team on mandatory vaccines. The task team will report to Cabinet after it has completed its work. Deputy President David Mabuza is also chairing an inter-ministerial committee on vaccines in the country.
Gungubele told the media on Thursday during a post-Cabinet briefing that the recommendations have not been tabled yet.
But they wanted to look at all the information that will be presented before a decision is taken.
The government has come under pressure from some businesses to implement mandatory vaccines as new cases continue to rise.
There were almost 20 000 new cases on Wednesday night, which is a significant increase from more than 6 000 cases the night before.
The Omicron variant has been causing a rise in infections over the last two weeks.
Gungubele said there were a number of issues to take on board when considering mandatory vaccines.
But he said they were encouraging people to get vaccinated because of the increase in infections.
He warned against those who are opposed to vaccinating, saying the economy needed to recover.
“On the mandatory vaccines no recommendations were tabled. All we are looking at is the entire information on the implications on the mandatory stuff. To say it safely, it’s so clear to a number of us that you need a policy that encourages vaccination and you need a policy that discourages cynicism towards vaccines. What type of policy is that will depend on the findings we have as we assess the situation,” said Gungubele.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Political Bureau