This is not the first time I have written the blog when I am excited. And, really, I tend to only write it when I am! Today, I’m not going to alter this obvious bias about my time in South Africa as this month I started at
Treatment Action Campaign.
I have had a long (one-way) love affair with TAC. I cant even remember when I first heard of TAC, it must have been when I was studying International Health, or more likely Tom (Yates) pointed me their direction. They have informed my views on campaigning, politics, civil society action and the centrality of patients in health campaigns so much it feels like I've always know of them. For people who haven’t come across them before TAC, they are the South African HIV/AIDS campaign. Internationally they become famous for being in court against 32 pharmaceutical companies (represented by the Pharmaceutical Manufactures’ Association) in 2001 and winning. Pharma were trying to stop South Africa importing cheaper generic drugs from countries like India which had generic drug factories (a process called parallel importing). Because of TACs arguments and activism Pharma withdraw their case, retreating from the upswelling of public opinion against them with their tail between their legs. The case also had international ramifications on drug prices. Back in South Africa, in a what seemed a bizarre turn of events of at the time, South Africa Government then stalled in providing Anti-Retero-Virals (ARVs). A discourse of AIDS denial arose, which questioned the scientific basis for HIV causing AIDS, dangerously promoted good nutrition as an alternative to ARV drugs as opposed to an important addition and delayed and sometimes refused to provide ARVs to the public. TAC has been fighting government denial and reluctance to provide treatment ever since. There have been some epic battles both in the court and in the streets which means that ARVs are now increasingly available. But of course there are still fights to win.
So, it’s quite obvious that I was excited to be starting to volunteer with TAC. The national TAC office is in centre of Cape Town. It’s the middle floors of a stone walled office building a few meters walk from the main tourist through fare cluttered with slightly pretentious cafes. The office is a busy place, phones constantly ringing, frequent visitors and decorated with old campaign posters. I think I walked in during one of their busiest weeks for a while. TAC’s magazine Equal Treatment had just over a week to go before its deadline. I was plunged into chasing up articles, helping write a few, fact checking, finding photos and getting last minute interviews.
The next issue of Equal Treatment is going to be on immigration. Due to the ongoing situation in Zimbabwe over a third of Zimbabwean’s have now left their country and most are in South Africa. While some have friends or family who can help, most face complicated legal barriers, cant find housing and have no way of getting healthcare or earning money. I was involved in writing about some of the more sobering situations people are in: the living conditions in the detention centers which have been slammed by human rights organizations for their lack of healthcare, overcrowding and physical abuse that happens within; and about the high risk of young girls getting raped as they travel to South Africa, or, and I think the distention is almost academic, having sex with men in return for food, accommodation or travel.
These first week’s work were punctuated by a couple of protests against gender based violence. TAC has been following the case of one of their members Nandipha Makeke who was raped and murdered over 2 years ago. There have been long delays in bringing her attachers to justice with evidence being lost and over 20 court apearances. In responce TAC have rallied outside the court for every hearing. This week the magistrates finally sentanced the accused to 20 years. So I sat in the press conference TAC held to publise it and we all made our way to the court house as a final bit of protesting. Despite the seriousness of the issue TAC protests are lively events. There is lot of toyi-toying - singing, chanting and dancing to all the old antiapartheid protest songs.
The second protest was also outside court to support getting a court interdict against a man, Yanga Janet, who has been intimidating people with “HIV Positive” T-shirts in a part of Khayelitsha. A few weeks ago he shot one TAC member (not fatally). As far I understand the interdict is a bit like a restraining order that allows the police to arrest Yanga the moment he does anything threatening. It’s related to the rape case. Yanga is part of the gang that murdered and raped Nandipha Makeke. The TAC members who have been directly threatened by Yanga are now camping out in a “secret location” organised by TAC!
Since this lively start I’ve been stuck into admin tasks - like phoning all the Exclusive Books shops in the country to see if the last edition of Equal Treatment arrived; cutting pages from the old TAC website and pasting them into the new one.
I am really enjoying the work at TAC. As a doctor, I think my dream working environment would be a clinic with a revolving door leading to a busy advocacy office :-)
