Dear Editor
Dear South Africa is deeply concerned about a developing trend of government departments and officials undermining the public participation process or treating it with condescension.
During AfriForum and DearSA’s court proceedings against the Minister of Health regarding regulatory amendments to the Health Act, we discovered that the minister’s original intent was to force the new regulations through. Therefore the Department of Health allowed the public only a truncated 30-day comment period to tick the required public participation boxes before steamrolling ahead. Significant public pressure forced the minister to extend the commentary period to a full three months, but his failure to do so from the start is telling.
Even more concerning were internal communications from within the Department of Health that recommended the approximately 300 000 public comments be discarded as “generic”. The email went even further by labelling the organisations opposing the regulatory amendments (including AfriForum and DearSA) as “terrorists” and “saboteurs” who are “instigating chaos against the state” and “wasting” its resources.
Furthermore, to intimidate the applicants, the Minister of Health threatened to pursue costs against DearSA and AfriForum if we refused to withdraw our applications. This threat is legally unsound and entirely inappropriate for an organ of the state. Using government resources to protect the minister’s decision from judicial scrutiny is iniquitous.
Unfortunately, abuse of state resources to silence public input and protect government officials from accountability isn’t isolated or rare. Tuesday’s incident where the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, used SAPS members to forcibly remove Ian Cameron (of Action Society which is a non-profit organisation) from the Gugulethu Community meeting is another example of such disgraceful conduct.
The Constitution not only mandates public participation by citizens in their governance but also protects it. Actions by government officials that undermine public participation weaken and damage our democratic processes. Openly displayed hostility of government officials towards those who seek to uphold the public interest is wholly unacceptable in a democratic state.
DearSA does not only exist to facilitate public participation in a transparent and nonpartisan manner. We are also guardians of the process and will ensure that public input remains an integral and protected part of our democratic society. Elected officials engaging in duplicitous actions against sacrosanct institutions will not go unchallenged.
Gideon Joubert
DearSA CEO
