For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Shomolekae.

Making headlines: ANC confident ConCourt will uphold NHI Act as it calls out opposition; Home Affairs calls for public comment on proposed digital ID system; And, WHO says human to human hantavirus transmission suspected on cruise but risk to public low

ANC confident ConCourt will uphold NHI Act as it calls out opposition

The African National Congress believes the Constitutional Court will uphold the constitutionality of the National Health Insurance and affirm the State’s move to roll out universal healthcare.

The Constitutional Court is hearing two major challenges to the NHI Act between Tuesday and Thursday, focusing on an allegedly flawed parliamentary public participation processes.

In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that he would not promulgate any provisions of the NHI Act prior to the Constitutional Court handing down judgment on these public participation challenges, and that he would not enforce any part of the Act until he was requested to do so by the Minister of Health.

The ANC reaffirmed its “unwavering commitment” to the NHI, with party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu stating that the NHI was an historic instrument to dismantle the entrenched inequalities that continue to define South Africa’s health system.

Bhengu accused those opposing the NHI of seeking to preserve a system that reproduced inequality and delayed the full realisation of constitutional rights.

Such opposition had profound social consequences, she added.

Home Affairs calls for public comment on proposed digital ID system

Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber has officially gazetted draft amended regulations under the Identification Act of 1997 for public comment, as plans to digitise the identity system expand.

The proposed regulations aim to allow citizens to store, access, and use digital versions of their key identification documents directly on their smartphones.

Members of the public, industry stakeholders, and civil society have until June 6 to submit written comments on the proposal.

Schreiber explains that the proposed digital ID system will allow the secure storage of identity documents, birth certificates, and marriage certificates in a digital wallet on smartphones.

He explains that the new regulations intend to clarify that digital identity credentials constitute a valid form of identification, while ensuring that physical documents, such as the Smart ID Card, remain valid.

Schreiber assures that the proposed regulations will prescribe stringent standards for biometric capture and digital enrolment and, if adopted, the regulations will allow users to confirm their identity remotely using biometric technology, reducing reliance on physical, in-person verification.

And, WHO says human to human hantavirus transmission suspected on cruise but risk to public low

The World Health Organization today said it suspects some rare human to human transmission took place between close contacts on board a luxury cruise ship hit by seven confirmed or suspected hantavirus cases.

A Dutch couple and a German national have died, while a British national was evacuated from the ship and is in intensive care in South Africa, officials said. Three more suspected cases affect people who are still on board, one of whom has a mild fever.

The UN health body said its working assumption was that the initial case of the couple, who joined the boat in Argentina, were infected off the ship, perhaps while doing some activities such as bird watching, and that human-to-human transmission may have happened on board.

The cruise ship hit by the deadly outbreak is marooned off Cape Verde - an island nation in the Atlantic off West Africa - and not allowed to put passengers ashore.

The WHO said the focus now was to evacuate the two sick passengers still onboard to the Netherlands and then for the ship to continue to the Canary Islands.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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