Health minister Zweli Mkhize will not release the scientific advisories he has received on Covid-19, because they do not represent the government’s final position on the issues they cover, he said on Monday.
The Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on Covid-19 has provided more than 70 advisories to Mkhize since it was established in late March to help guide the government’s response to the disease.
While some of its advisories have made their way into the public domain, none have been officially released by the minister, nor are they available on the health department’s website. The advisories cover fiercely contested issues such as alcohol restrictions, measures to reduce coronavirus transmission in public transport, and testing strategies. But they also deal with far less controversial issues such as disinfection tunnels and antibody tests.
Some MAC members wanted to publish and immediately implement the advisories, but they failed to appreciate the government’s policy-making processes, said the minister. Health policy had to be approved by the National Health Council (NHC), and input was not restricted to scientific advisers, he said. The NHC includes the minister of health, health MECs, provincial health department heads and representatives from the military.
“[Just] because we have said there is a MAC advising on Covid-19 it doesn’t mean that it is the only body that is giving information that will be taken into account. There are various other players who make contributions that ultimately formulate the policy position that we take,” he said.
For example, the government’s latest regulations for reducing Covid-19 transmission on public transport, which were gazetted on Sunday evening, were the culmination of input from the MAC, the department of transport, provincial leadership, taxi associations and the National Coronavirus Command Council, he said.
“All of us together have come up with what we have,” said the minister during a media briefing on Monday.
“In the case of alcohol … the MAC had quite a robust debate and ultimately many felt they did not wish to advise the government on this matter,” he said, referring to the ban on alcohol sales that came into effect on Sunday. The ban, which was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in an address to the nation, is aimed at reducing the alcohol-related trauma load on hospitals to free up resources for Covid-19 patients.
Alex van den Heever, who holds the chair of Social Security Systems Administration and Management Studies at Wits, said any advice provided to the government as part of its decision-making process should be made public unless there was a compelling public interest reason not to do so. “I can think of no such reasons in this instance. The MAC advisories should plainly be made public. In an open democratic society, government is required to explain its reasoning for any decision made,” he said.
Such reasoning would include making available any advice received or rejected, and the rationale and evidence for decisions taken. “Hiding advice to avoid having to properly account for a decision cannot reasonably be justified on public interest grounds,” he said.
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