Scores of volunteers were arrested and others dispersed by a police water cannon as the Treatment Action Campaign’s (TAC) civil disobedience campaign got underway on Thursday.
At the same time, TAC laid culpable homicide charges against Health Minister Manto Tshabalala Msimang and her trade and industry counterpart Alec Erwin.
TAC claims the pair are responsible for the deaths of 600 HIV-positive people a day in South Africa who have no access to antiretroviral drugs.
It is calling for government to make an ”irreversible and unequivocal” commitment to a national public sector ARV treatment plan.
The arrests, of what police said were 110 people, took place in Cape Town after a two-and-a half hour occupation of the Caledon Square police station.
In Durban police used a water cannon to disperse about 70 TAC supporters outside the Durban Central police station on Thursday, KwaZulu-Natal police reported.
Supt Vasi Naidu said the crowd gathered around 3pm and demanded that police investigate a charge against Tshabalala-Msimang.
The station commander refused and ordered the crowd to disperse. When they refused a water cannon was used and station was cleared. No-one was arrested.
TAC says it will seek to have a symbolic 600 people arrested in the coming week as part of the disobedience campaign, and has threatened to escalate the campaign in a second week in April if the government does not respond.
Health representative Jo-Anne Collinge said the department had learned of the charges against the ministers through the media.
”It’s probably premature for us to comment on the basis of the information we have,” she said.
About 120 volunteers, some carrying red ”wanted” posters bearing the photographs of Tshabalala-Msimang and Erwin, marched arm in arm through the city centre shortly before 1pm on Thursday and into the charge office of the Caledon Square police station.
Inside, TAC chairman Zackie Achmat told bemused charge office staff that TAC wanted them to arrest the two ministers.
”We’re going to say here until you arrest us, or you arrest them,” he said. ”We’re insisting that you arrest them.” As more policemen of increasingly senior rank came in to hear the TAC demands, many of the volunteers changed into ”HIV positive” t-shirts that they had previously hidden.
One of the ”wanted” posters was pinned on the charge office wall alongside genuine police ”wanted” posters.
In a ”people’s docket” handed to police, TAC said it demanded an investigation into the death of ”many thousands of people” whose deaths could have been prevented had they been given access to treatment.
”We further demand that the accused be arrested and charged with the offence of culpable homicide or negligently causing the death of these people.
”We believe that many thousands of people can bare witness to these horrible crimes.” It said that in their capacities as ministers both had the legal duty and power to prevent Aids-related deaths by developing a treatment and prevention plan and providing medicines.
After an hour, Achmat and three colleagues were taken to speak to provincial police commissioner Lennit Max.
When they returned, Achmat said: ”The police have opened a docket against the minister of health for culpable homicide and the minister of trade and industry.
”They’ve asked us to go home because they’ll investigate the case. We said they must arrest us. They’re doing their best and they will try to arrest us… and they’ll let us go after they’ve arrested us.”
An officer who identified himself as ”head of detectives”, Mzwandile Ndlovu, was met with a chorus of ”thank you” when he confirmed that they would be arrested.
He said they would released on warning to appear in court.
The volunteers began singing as they filed through to a back room to be charged, but TAC office-bearer Vuyani Jacobs urged them to silence. ‒ Sapa