9 September 2025, Johannesburg – SECTION27, representing Cancer Alliance, notes with disappointment the Gauteng Department of Health’s (GDoH) appeal to the recent judgment by the Gauteng High Court, in the case for radiation oncology treatment. Cancer Alliance intends to oppose this appeal and views it as yet another attempt by GDoH to delay providing treatment to patients on the backlog list for radiation oncology treatment, despite having received R784 million from Gauteng Treasury in March 2023, to clear the backlog. The matter has been set down for hearing by the full bench of the South Gauteng High Court in the week of 6 October 2025.
The judgment handed down in favour of Cancer Alliance on 20 August 2025 by Judge Dippenaar at the Gauteng High Court stated that the order of 27 March 2025 was immediately enforceable and not suspended by the pending appeal proceedings instituted by the GDoH in the Supreme Court of Appeal. What this appeal by GDoH means is that the operation of the March order is suspended pending the outcome of its next appeal.
This is yet another blow to patients in Gauteng who have been waiting to receive radiation treatment for years.
In its application, GDoH denies the existence of a backlog list of cancer patients who have been waiting for radiation oncology treatment since 2022. They also argue that this matter, brought before the court by Cancer Alliance, is not urgent. Cancer Alliance and SECTION27 are concerned by GDoH’s insistence on using the legal system to avoid providing treatment to vulnerable patients at the expense of patients’ lives. We are particularly troubled by GDoH’s argument that this matter is not urgent, while lives have been lost and are being lost.
We call on GDoH to ensure that the backlog list provided to them in 2022 is updated and that they provide the court with an updated backlog list and a report on their plans to treat the patients on the backlog list as required by the March 2025 court order.
The Gauteng MEC for Health and the Department of Health that she leads have now been required in two court orders to provide radiation oncology to desperate patients and to provide a report on progress to the court. This is not an unreasonable task, nor a task that goes beyond the GDoH’s mandate.
The GDoH’s ongoing failure to comply with its constitutional obligations, now laid out in two court judgments, is deeply troubling and harmful to the 3000 people who appear to be lost in a failing system.
For media queries contact:
Pearl Nicodemus | nicodemus@section27.org.za | 082 298 2636
Salomé Meyer | salome@canceralliance.org.za | 079 483 3175
1 Comment
Fahdiel Moosa · September 11, 2025 at 1:29 pm
Radiation treatment should be given to all patients in need of it.