THE FUSE

Between 5 and 7 May 2026, the Constitutional Court heard a combined challenge to the National Health Insurance Act, brought by the Board of Healthcare Funders and the Western Cape government. Both argued that Parliament had run a “tick-box” process – that submissions had been received and largely ignored, that in at least two provinces the National Council of Provinces had breached its own procedures, and that the public had not been given enough information to engage meaningfully with what was being decided on their behalf. The state argued the opposite: that consultation had been extensive, and that engagement does not mean agreement. Justice Steven Majiedt raised a related concern about financial mismanagement, citing R2-billion lost to “spillage” at a single hospital.