27 March 2002
Seven MECs for Health and I have approached the Constitutional Court directly for leave to appeal against the execution order on the provision of Nevirapine and an extension of that order which was handed down by the Pretoria High Court on Monday.
Our legal representatives are today filing papers with the Constitutional Court to that effect. We have also indicated that the matter should be treated on the basis of urgency and should be heard either when the appeal on the main application is heard - on May 2 and 3 - or before that date, as the Constitutional Court may direct.
I would like to emphasise that we have no intention of circumventing the courts or simply delaying matters by endless litigation. We stand ready to abide by the final decision of the courts on the execution order.
We have turned to the highest court in the land precisely because of our belief in the judicial system and because we think the issues warrant this kind of attention. We have said in our papers that we believe that the execution order is a constitutional matter, or at least so intimately linked to the central constitutional questions of the original case that it is a proper matter for the Constitutional Court to deal with.
While these legal matters proceed, I am appointing a task team whose function it will be to guide and support the further development of the programme on mother-to-child-transmission of HIV within norms and standards that have been endorsed by all provinces.
Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang
Minister of Health
Inquiries to:
Sibani Mngadi, Ministry of Health: 082 772 0161
Jo-Anne Collinge, Dept of Health: 082 787 0202