ARVs for prisoners case back in court
Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday June 10, 2014 16:36
Judge Bengbame Sechele will preside over the case in which government has asked to be given a chance to argue the merits of its case.
In February this year, the court handed down a default judgment and ordered the government to provide foreign inmates with free ARVs, following the failure of its representatives to appear in court.
The case was brought forward by BONELA with support from the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC) on behalf of two foreign prisoners who are the applicants.
Yesterday, Tshiamo Rantao, the prisoners’ lawyer, explained that after the court handed down the default judgment, government apologised and asked to be given a chance to argue its case.
“We did not oppose the request by government to be given a chance because at the end of the day, we also want a reasonable judgment based on the merits of our case,” said Rantao.
Two Zimbabwean prisoners, assisted by BONELA, had approached the courts and sued the government for refusing to provide them with free ARVs while providing them at no cost to its citizens. BONELA had argued that by denying foreign inmates the treatment, the government was violating their constitutional right to equality, dignity and non-discrimination.
BONELA also accused the government of adopting a contradictory stance as it refused to provide foreign inmates with ARVs, but continued to give them free treatment of opportunistic diseases like tuberculosis and pneumonia.
Rantao also argued that refusing to provide foreign inmates with ARVs actually puts other inmates at risk of re-infection and becoming resistant to ARV treatment, given the sexual activity in the country’s prisons.
He also said contrary to popular belief, it was more expensive to treat prisoners for opportunistic diseases than to provide them with ARVs, which nullified the government’s argument about high medical costs.
He said he could not understand why the government insisted on incurring expenses of treating foreign inmates for opportunistic infections rather than preventing them (infections) by boosting their immune systems.