What you said: People should be able to choose not to get vaccinated without losing their jobs

TimesLIVE readers have weighed in on the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration’s (CCMA) decision to uphold a Johannesburg woman’s dismissal for refusing to get vaccinated.

Theresa Mulderij, who worked as a business-related and training officer at Goldrush Group, was dismissed after refusing to get the jab when the company implemented a mandatory vaccination policy.

The company said the policy was formulated after consultation with employees and unions over three months, and after the benefits of vaccination were explained to staff.

It said Mulderij refused to be vaccinated and there was no other position to which she could be moved within the company because she interacted with site owners and other employees.

Mulderij said it was her constitutional right to be exempted from vaccination and she had a personal fear about possible vaccine side-effects. She said while she accepted the choice of others to be inoculated, she wanted the same respect to be given to her.

The SA Human Rights Commission found that mandatory Covid-19 vaccination would not necessarily be a human rights infringement.

The commission said a general law compelling South Africans to get vaccinated would be constitutionally sound under the right circumstances. However, it called on government to first explore all options to encourage voluntary vaccination.

The Congress of SA Trade Unions, Federation of Unions of SA and National Council of Trade Unions said dismissing staff for not getting vaccinated will worsen high unemployment in the country.

They said employers should rather educate and persuade workers who are reluctant to vaccinate.

“Organised labour believes dismissal of any worker must be avoided at all costs. Workers have families for whom they are responsible. We have an unemployment rate of 46% that is rising daily. Sending any worker into the unemployment queue is to condemn their families to poverty."

TimesLIVE ran a poll asking readers what they thought about the CCMA’s decision.

Most (79%) disagreed with the ruling, saying the employee “should be able to choose not to not vaccinated without losing her job”. 

19% said, given the circumstances, it was the right decision, and 2% said the situation was “complex”.

The debate continued on social media.

“Everyone has freedom of choice. Companies have the right to their employment conditions and if you don’t like them you are free to work somewhere else,” said Meryl Brown.

Bonolo Rebaona Molefe disagreed, saying the woman’s “human rights were violated by her employer and the CCMA went and ratified it”.

“It’s complete BS. Poor people are suffering at the hands of government and big corporations thinking they own people’s bodies just because they employ them,” she said.