BUSA denies heading to ConCourt over mandatory vaccination

Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi told the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) earlier this week that government supports BUSA’s decision to turn to the Constitutional Court to obtain a declaratory order.

Nxesi said BUSA believes a declaratory order by the highest court in the land will ensure that mandatory vaccination in the workplace withstands any legal test.

But BUSA CEO Cas Coovadia has denied that they will be heading to the Constitutional Court.

“The correct position is that BUSA indicated we will consult our legal advisors about the possibility of applying to the High Court for a declaratory order to provide additional legal certainty to back up the OHS guidelines already in place.

“We are in the process of doing this but will not be able to put in an application in January 2022, after senior counsel is satisfied that we have the necessary case to apply for a declaratory order. Our advocate and junior counsel are, in the meantime, preparing the necessary affidavits,” says Coovadia.

Coovadia says employers should continue to encourage employees to vaccinate.

“We must also be clear that we have taken the view that the current OHS guidelines enable employers to put into place mechanisms to enable vaccination of all staff to meet their responsibility of ensuring a safe workplace for all their staff.

“This is being undertaken within the confines of the guidelines and we are seeing incredibly positive responses from all staff in firms that have applied the OHS guidelines. Discovery has indicated that staff vaccinations have risen from barely one fifth to over 94% in the three months since they announced plans to make jabs compulsory from 1 January 2022.

“We have seen comparable results in other firms. This is exactly the type of behaviour we need to encourage, and we urge more employers to follow suit.”

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