20 August 2025, Johannesburg – SECTION27, and the Cancer Alliance, welcome the urgent judgment of the Gauteng High Court handed down today by Judge Dippenaar in the matter of Cancer Alliance v MEC for Health, Gauteng and 10 Others.
The Cancer Alliance, represented by SECTION27, approached the South Gauteng High Court on an urgent basis on 5 August 2025. The purpose of the application was to request that the court order of 27 March 2025, which was granted in favour of Cancer Alliance, be made immediately enforceable and not suspended by the pending appeal proceedings instituted by the Gauteng MEC for Health and the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH). In the March 2025 order, Acting Judge Van Nieuwenhuizen declared that the GDoH’s failure to develop and implement a plan to address the oncology backlog was unlawful, unconstitutional, and in breach of various sections of the Constitution. The Acting Judge ordered the respondents to update and maintain the backlog listof cancer patients awaiting radiation oncology services in Gauteng with 45 days of the court’s order; take all necessary steps to provide treatment to those patients, whether at public or private facilities; and file progress reports with the Court on measures taken and long-term plans to resolve the crisis.
The respondents appealed this order and on 7 May 2025, Acting Judge Van Niewenhuizen granted leave to appeal his judgment to the Supreme Court of Appeal. From the outset, SECTION27 and Cancer Alliance maintained that the court’s order was immediately enforceable. We argued that exceptional circumstances exist in this case in that this is a matter of life and death for cancer patients who will suffer irreparable harm if the order is not immediately enforced. We also argued that providing radiation oncology services to patients who meet the criteria for the treatment is the Constitutional obligation of GDoH. The respondents challenged this, but today’s judgment confirms Cancer Alliance and SECTION27’s position and makes it clear that government cannot delay its constitutional duties while patients’ lives hang in the balance.
In today’s judgment Judge Dippenaar stressed that the backlog meant that patients were being denied treatment within the treatment windows required for radiation to be effective, which had “dire consequences”. The Court found that patients faced “irreversible and permanent harm” that affected not only their health but also their families and loved ones, which in turn created a broader public health and societal crisis. The Court noted that some of the irreparable harm had already occurred as patients had died while waiting for treatment, and others had seen their cancer metastasise, rendering such patients ineligible for oncology radiation treatment.
The Court concluded that it was undisputed that the respondents did not take any significant steps to abide by the order. The Court made it clear that the operation and execution of paragraphs 5, 6, and 7 of Acting Justice Van Nieuwenhuizen’s judgment and order, which was handed down on March 27, 2025, will not be suspended until the Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision on the respondents’ appeal against the judgment and order, as well as the outcome of any appeal that may be launched in the Constitutional Court.
This judgment is a critical affirmation of the rights to life, dignity and access to healthcare services. The judgment is also a reminder that the state must act with urgency, transparency, and accountability when lives are at stake. SECTION27 and Cancer Alliance call on the Gauteng Department of Health, the Minister of Health, and hospital CEOs to fully comply with the order and, to stop using legal processes as delaying tactics, and without further delay, to ensure that the patients on the backlog list receive urgent, life-saving treatment they need. Every day of inaction means more families losing loved ones unnecessarily.
For media queries contact:
Pearl Nicodemus | nicodemus@section27.org.za | 082 298 2636
Salomé Meyer | salome@canceralliance.org.za | 079 483 3175