OBERT Kondongwe, a Harare based lawyer has opposed government’s recent decision of making vaccination mandatory for church and religious gatherings as well as the move by other companies and governments of sending unvaccinated staff on leave.
By Patricia Mashiri
In his court challenge, Kondongwe is saying there is no law currently in Zimbabwe which makes vaccination mandatory and as such, churches should not be penalized for attending churche gatherings unvaccinated. He also argued that Government is infringing on people’s rights and freedoms contained in section 51,52,56,58,60 and 65.
It is trite that each person, having fully considered the implications and effects of vaccination, is expected to make a personal decision on whether or not to get vaccinated and even to make a personal decision regarding the timing of such vaccination.
“It is common cause that the Constitution of Zimbabwe is the supreme law of the land. Section 44 of the Constitution provides that the State and every person, including juristic persons, and every institution and agency of the government at every level must respect, protect, promote and fulfill the rights and freedoms set out in chapter 4 of the Constitution. We examine these rights below,” he said
He added that section 51 of the Constitution outline that that every human being has inherent dignity in their private and public life and the right to have that dignity respected and protected. The view being that the inherent dignity of every person necessarily includes the absolute autonomy of every human being to decide whether or not to get Vaccinated.
“For the Govt or an employer to impose vaccination as a condition for the continua tion of church or the employment is not only to invade the dignity of the person affected but to also attack it irreparably. It has also become apparent that both vaccinated and unvaccinated people transmit the virus and as such, there is no point in excluding unvaccinated congregants/employees from churches/ workplaces if both can transmit.”
Kondongwe also added that there were many grey areas with regards to vaccines and these include the flawed PCR test (high CT values creates false positives), violation of public participation laws before trial vaccine rollouts, secret and draconian vaccine deals with pharmaceutical companies demanding state assets as collateral for exorbitant vaccines.
“Informed consent violations especially against the poor and uneducated, unconstitutional attempts to make vaccines mandatory by Government and Businesses, serious adverse effects of the vaccine including deaths, infertility and bodily harm, prevention and treatment medicines such as Ivermectin are being blocked and Information from an ex-Pfizer employee Whistle-blower that vaccines contain graphene oxide which is toxic to humans,”
