LETTER: Consultation on vaccine mandates a key issue

Obviously, the facts in different cases concerning vaccine mandates will produce different results (“CCMA upholds Johannesburg woman’s dismissal for refusing to take Covid-19 jab”, January 26). However, it is clear from that ruling that the process of consultation and justification is almost as important as the merits of the actual vaccination.

It will be interesting to see what transpires in the Constitutional Court when a university appears as a respondent to defend its vaccination policy. It is well nigh impossible for a university to consult each and every student and take into account the personal circumstances of each individual student and employee.

It is important that the arbitrator referred positively to a memorandum from the deputy judge president of the Gauteng High Court, Judge Roland Sutherland, when he stated: “If one wishes to be an active member of a community then the incontrovertible legitimate interest of the community must trump the preferences of the individual.”

I believe this sentiment is going to be the golden thread running through all SA court judgments on the mandatory vaccination question.

Michael Bagraim, MP
DA deputy shadow employment & labour minister

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