DA: Transparency needed on missing of second COVAX payment deadline
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says he is appalled that South Africa seems to be the only country on the planet not scrambling to get hold of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Steenhuisen, along with DA members Siviwe Gwarube and Gordon Hill-Lewis, held a virtual press briefing following reports that government has missed the deadline to pay the deposit necessary to secure COVAX vaccine supplies.
The Solidarity Fund was meant to donated R327 million to secure the country's spot in the scheme.
The payment would be enough to secure a Covid-19 vaccine for about 6 million South Africans, or 10% of the population.
On Friday, Steenhuisen said government’s “unacceptable tardiness” is jeopardising the country’s access to a vaccine.
He also claimed that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni misled Parliament when he said no deadline had been missed.
"When the DA questioned Tito Mboweni in Parliament on 4 December about missing the first deadline (of October 9), the minister responded angrily.
"He insisted that we didn’t have the facts and that we were misleading the public," Steenhuisen said.
Steenhuisen said the party is not looking to score political points, but just wants full transparency.
"I think the president, the health minister and the finance minister must put their hands up and say, 'look we've dropped the ball here and this is how we're going to fix it', I think is what everybody is looking for here.
"No-one is looking for a ‘gotcha moment’," Steenhuisen said.
The party will approach the ethics committee over the allegations that Mboweni misled Parliament.
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