The matter was heard in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria this Tuesday.

“The reason why HJI requested disclosure of these contracts and seek the order that we are in our courts is because we use SA’s Access to Information laws to be able to access copies to the department and those requests were denied. We asked the department who it entered into contracts with, the legal entities, and even that information was refused. So, one of the motivating factors for asking for disclosure has been, as you’ll recall, the high levels of secrecy around surrounding many of these contracts, not just in SA but around the world, at the height of the pandemic, when there were scarce supplies. And what many countries in the global south were forced to do, was to enter into non-disclosure agreements, and agree to the demands of these pharmaceutical manufacturers and other intermediaries, and agree to these high levels of secrecy,” Fatima Hassan, the Head of the HJI, who was speaking on Channel Africa programme Rise and Shine, said.

She said since in SA there is not only the access to information laws in place, but there is a constitution that guarantees the right of the public to have information when it involves public procurement, using public funds.

“We also have the right to fair and transparent procurement and we have argued that ewe need to be able to see those documents,” said Hassan.

--ChannelAfrica--