The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will take to the streets
if the government does not ”come to the party” on the issue of Aids
treatment, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The federation’s Western Cape treasurer, Caroline Scheepers, told a media
briefing in Cape Town that Cosatu wanted government to return to National
Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) talks on a framework
agreement on HIV/Aids.
”If they don’t come to the party, we’ll even take our people to the
streets,” she said. ”The poorest of the poor is going to suffer. We can’t
afford the drugs as the working class. Many people are dying.”
She said Cosatu had been scheduled to meet Health Minister Manto
Tshabalala-Msimang on the issue last Friday, but the meeting did not take
place. Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) chairperson Zackie Achmat, at the
same briefing, said Nedlac did have a dispute resolution mechanism and he
hoped matters ”won’t come to that”.
The TAC last week suspended a civil disobedience campaign initiated in a bid
to force government to commit to a national antiretroviral treatment plan.
The TAC is scheduled to meet the South African National Aids Council (Sanac)
on May 17, and Achmat said it expected the council to announce its support
for a treatment plan.
The TAC had asked that a costing estimate compiled by a joint Department of
Health and Treasury task team be made available to it and to Sanac members
before the May 17 meeting.
He said the TAC had heard that the government costing had come out ”better
than ours”, and that its treatment estimates were even cheaper than the
TAC’s. -Sapa