Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Five weeks of misery without water
  • Akhona Mafani’s road to success
  • Open Day at the Joza Youth Hub
  • Makana municipality reprimanded by Parliamentary portfolio committee
  • Weekend Rugby: Previews and Predictions
  • What’s On – 8 – 15 June
  • High-scoring weekend for Makana LFA premier and first divisions
  • Food 4 Futures Water Tank raffle
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»NEWS»Covid-19»Legal challenge to Rhodes vaccine mandate struck down
Covid-19

Legal challenge to Rhodes vaccine mandate struck down

Rod AmnerBy Rod AmnerMarch 2, 2022Updated:March 2, 2022No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

An urgent application by Makhanda Against Mandates (MAM) for an interdict against Rhodes University’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate has been struck off the roll with costs.

High court judge Murray Lowe heard five hours of argument over whether the matter was urgent during online court proceedings on Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning, he ruled that the urgency of the application was “self-created” as MAM had known about the vaccine mandate since October 2021 but waited until January 2022 to oppose it in the courts.

Lowe said Rhodes had not been given enough time to respond to the application – the timelines were stringent, unreasonable and unsustainable.

Lowe said he was cognisant of “the chilling effect that an adverse costs order may have on Constitutional litigation” but ordered MAM to pay Rhodes’s “wasted costs”.

He said while the awarding of costs impacted access to justice, “there has been a considerable failure [by MAM]in the proper consideration of all the relevant issues relating urgency”.

MAM is an alliance of Rhodes University students, parents and employees, led by philosophy lecturer Francis Williamson, which applied to the high court to review and set aside the vaccine mandate.

MAM lost the first argument around ‘urgency’. This means that the Rhodes vaccine mandate is still in place, and students, staff, service providers and visitors cannot access the university without a vaccine certificate.

Rhodes University director of communications Luzuko Jacobs said the university welcomed the court judgement.

“The University has, since reopening in 2022, implemented a vaccination mandate as a condition for entry onto campus for all staff, students, and visitors as part of a full and safe return to campus following two years of virtual teaching, learning and limited activity,” he said in a statement.

Council also approved an exemption application and an alternative health status process.

To date, over 97% of staff and 95% of the students have submitted their vaccination certificates to the University.

“Exemption applications are considered weekly. Vaccines, rapid tests and booster shots are available on campus,” Jacobs said.

“Incontrovertible scientific evidence shows that vaccines are safe and are most effective to protect ourselves and others from the severe impact of COVID-19.

“The University owes its academic and research successes to its compact size, face-to-face engagements and excellent student residential system. While the use of technology to support teaching and learning is an important modality for the University, it is complemented by small group engagements in the form of tutorials and discussions to enhance the quality of learning and teaching.”

A MAM representative said the group would meet soon to decide how to proceed. If the group chooses to pursue the matter, they will have to re-enrol it on the ordinary court roll, which could take months to be heard.

Meanwhile, several Rhodes students have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past few weeks, contributing to an increase of active local cases from 10 to 31.

Previous ArticleMM fails to show up for its own ward committee elections
Next Article Nutrition series: Is a plant-based diet really beneficial to you?
Rod Amner

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.