|
 Many South African companies have opted for mandatory vaccination in
order to ensure a safe workplace environment, but that has also
opened them up to potential legal challenges.
MTN's move follows President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement last
month that the government was considering making COVID-19 shots
compulsory for citizens to access certain places and activities.
Business lobby groups have supported the move though one of them,
Business Unity South Africa, said without specifying that it was
expecting legal challenges and was seeking a legal opinion to help
companies enforce the vaccine mandates.
South Africa's biggest trade union COSATU last month said that its
position regarding compulsory vaccination has "evolved" and it now
supports such mandates as a means of curbing the pandemic.
[to top of second column] |
 South Africa is experiencing a
surge in coronavirus infections driven by the
new variant Omicron first detected in the
country.
This has prompted a widespread need of
vaccination in the country and the continent
where the pace of inoculation has been one of
the slowest in the world.
"MTN Group's new vaccine policy is a measure to
meet MTN's legal obligations in regard to
providing a safe workplace," MTN said in a
statement.
"It (vaccine mandate) also recognises the right
of employees to apply to be exempted from the
policy and/or refuse vaccination on certain
clearly defined grounds," it said, adding that
staff who do not have a valid reason for not
getting vaccinated will be laid off.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Nqobile
Dludla; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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