Members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) staged protests outside provincial government offices around the country on Thursday.
”The action has been very successful nationwide and we are optimistic that government is getting our message,” said national TAC spokesperson Ralph Berold.
The illegal protest was part of what the organisation says was a global day of action to pressure the South African government on its response to HIV/Aids.
The TAC is demanding immediate government action to stop what it says are 1 000 new HIV infections and 800 Aids deaths a day in South Africa.
It is also demanding that Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and Director General of Health Thami Mseleku be dismissed immediately ”because they failed to address HIV/Aids issues”.
Six opposition parties in Parliament also renewed their efforts on Thursday to have Tshabalala-Msimang sacked. The chief whips of the Democratic Alliance, the Independent Democrats, the African Christian Democratic Party, the Freedom Front Plus, United Democratic Movement and the National Democratic Convention signed a petition appealing to President Thabo Mbeki to remove Tshabalala-Msimang from office.
”All the parties in this joint initiative agree that the minister has caused enormous damage to South Africa’s reputation and that her counterproductive ideas on HIV/Aids have led to unnecessary loss of life,” the whips said.
The whips said the six parties believe the minister’s lack of leadership and, at times, bizarre ideas have actively undermined any attempts to address the Aids crisis. ”She remains one of the greatest impediments to fighting the epidemic,” they said.
However, the Department of Health said Tshabalala-Msimang will not resign and it will continue to focus on prevention in its fight against HIV/Aids. In a statement on Thursday, departmental spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said campaigns have led to a ”very high level of awareness” among 92% to 98% of South Africans. ”There is still no cure for HIV and Aids, therefore we shall continue to put emphasis on prevention as the mainstay of our response.”
Protest action
Berold said the TAC on Thursday managed to raise all the issues it intended to. ”In KwaZulu-Natal we managed to arrange a meeting with the office of the premier for tomorrow [Friday] and the response was just as good in other provinces too.”
About 1 000 people took part in TAC protest action in KwaZulu-Natal, he said.
In Gauteng, a representative from the Presidency received a memorandum at the Union Buildings.
”They have three weeks to respond and this time we hope that government will see things our way,” said TAC spokesperson Luyanda Ngonyama. He said the TAC will go back to the government if it does not respond in time.
The protest had ”a huge impact” in Mpumalanga, as the TAC was also joined by NGOs, said the campaign’s Augustus Dludlu.
”More than 1 000 people marched to the provincial government offices here and this showed just how much people were irritated with the way government behaved towards Aids.
”They could not work today [Thursday] as we were singing and chanting slogans at their doors.”
The protest mood in Limpopo was ”electrifying”, said spokesperson Tinyiko Marilele.
”We delivered the memorandum to a representative of the health department at 1pm,” he said, adding that the government in Limpopo is ”the most unfriendly” on HIV/Aids issues.
In the Eastern Cape, spokesperson Masizole Gonyela said the TAC marched to the health department in Bisho. ”We will not stop until they hear us out,” said Gonyela.
Although the TAC had decided to stage illegal protests deliberately, police did not try to stop the action in these provinces. The TAC said it had not applied for permission to protest ”and we don’t apologise for that because we are tired of government’s inactivity in the face of the Aids pandemic”.
”Police accompanied us throughout the protest, but did not stop it,” said Gonyela.
No arrests were reported in the countrywide protests.
Pepper spray
In central Cape Town, however, police used pepper spray to evict a group of TAC protesters from a Department of Correctional Services building.
Groups of TAC members staged demonstrations outside two Cape Town buildings — the provincial government’s offices in Dorp Street and a building housing correctional service officers in Corporation Street.
Though department officials closed a metal security gate to keep the protesters out, a group of about 20 managed to force its way in shortly before 1pm. Police armed with shotguns rushed up, some standing guard at the entrance while others went inside and evicted the protesters. Those who resisted were doused with pepper spray and forcibly ejected.
The protesters regrouped outside the entrance to the building, singing and holding up posters reading ”Arrest Manto”. TAC spokesperson Sipho Mthathi told the Mail & Guardian Online that the people who had been sprayed with pepper spray were not seriously injured.
Later, about 100 activists briefly blockaded the front steps of the Western Cape legislature after learning that Mbeki was inside, addressing the National House of Traditional Leaders. They sang, danced and held up posters, including one calling on Mbeki to fire Tshabalala-Msimang.
Protests were also expected on Thursday at South African embassies in countries including the United States, Britain, China, Brazil and Canada. TAC general secretary Sipho Mthathi said TAC supporters in London on Thursday morning handed over a memorandum to South Africa’s high commissioner, Lindiwe Mabuza, and that similar action would follow in the US and Canada.
Declining rate
The budget for the comprehensive plan for management, care and treatment of the disease, of which Tshabalala-Msimang is in charge, has tripled over the past four years, the Department of Health’s Mngadi said on Thursday. It was just more than R1-billion in 2002 and last year stood at R3,5-billion.
Mngadi said there are signs that the HIV prevalence rate will decline in South Africa. ”The report on the National HIV and Syphillis Antenatal Sero-Prevalence Survey indicates that HIV prevalence rates for 2004 and 2005 are very similar.
”The prevalence profile continues to confirm the … projections of numerous groups whose models suggest that South Africa will begin to see a decline in the prevalence profile.
”The studies conducted over the years show that intervention programmes, which emphasise prevention, have a very important role in moderating HIV prevalence and the epidemiology of HIV infections in general.”
On the issue of nutrition, for which the minister has been well known for recommending a controversial diet of garlic, lemon, beetroot and African potato, the department statement said many people benefit from the nutritional supplementation aspect of the comprehensive plan.
”We have engaged in a healthy-lifestyle awareness campaign encouraging people to exercise regularly and to eat nutritious and healthy food, particularly vegetables and fruits, and this is supported by community vegetable gardens and food security.”
Mngadi said more than 175 000 people are receiving anti-retroviral treatment. ”This is the highest number of people put into anti-retroviral treatment by any government.”
Politicising
Meanwhile, Parliament’s correctional services committee chairperson Dennis Bloem said on Wednesday that the TAC is politicising a serious disease.
Bloem commented after an altercation between members of the TAC and warders at the Durban-Westville prison on Wednesday.
The TAC says a ”few” of its members went to the prison with health-care workers to give assistance to prisoners. The TAC says its members were threatened with guns and dogs by the warders and turned away.
”I wish to condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and irresponsible actions by the TAC,” Bloem was quoted on Wednesday as saying by Business Day.
”I do not think that the TAC is really concerned about the lives of people living with HIV/Aids. You cannot politicise such a serious disease and put the lives of people in danger for your own personal reasons,” the paper quoted him as saying. — Sapa