Strategic Litigation
Pandemic Transparency
The Health Justice Initiative v The Minister of Health and Information Officer, Department of Health
Judgment handed down in the Pretoria High Court on 17 August 2023!
On 22 February 2022 in Gauteng, South Africa, the HJI launched legal proceedings for the disclosure of all Covid-19 vaccine contracts and any applicable agreements with relevant companies and entities.
This follows an access to information request to the National Department of Health (NDoH) which was refused.
This case was heard by Millar J in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, 25 July 2023.
On 17 August 2023, the Pretoria High Court ruled in our favour in our bid to compel the National Department of Health to provide access to the COVID-19 vaccine procurement contracts. The Court ordered (per Millar J) that all COVID-19 vaccine contracts must be made public, and the costs of the case were awarded in our favour.
Other key litigation
Since 2020, HJI has, with other groups, played a key role as amicus (friend of the court) to help to address price gouging of PPE and inequity in the allocation of scarce vaccine supplies in a pandemic; and litigated using access to information laws to advocate for greater transparency in scientific decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic.
