12 December 2006
Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) activists, including chairperson Zackie Achmat, rejoiced outside the Cape Town Magistrates Court on Monday when charges against them were dropped.
Chanting and singing, the activists said they were happy with the outcome after Magistrate S Norman withdrew trespass charges.
They were arrested in August after they occupied the offices of the Western Cape provincial government. The activists were calling for the head of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and for a national crisis meeting to develop a new HIV and Aids programme.
As the protest was deliberately illegal, police used pepper spray on some of the activists who tried to force their way to Health MEC Pierre Uys’s office. TAC claimed it was tired of government’s failure to act on HIV and Aids.
However, the struggle is not over as the TAC and the Aids Law Project (ALP) meet with the department of correctional services on Wednesday over the thorny issue of providing anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment to inmates who need them.
Earlier this week, Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge’s had critised both the Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and President Thabo Mbeki on the confusing statements over aids and treatment.
Madlala-Routledge criticised those who encouraged traditional medicines as opposed to conventional treatment.
Chanting and singing, the activists said they were happy with the outcome after Magistrate S Norman withdrew trespass charges.They were arrested in August after they occupied the offices of the Western Cape provincial government. The activists were calling for the head of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and for a national crisis meeting to develop a new HIV and Aids programme.
As the protest was deliberately illegal, police used pepper spray on some of the activists who tried to force their way to Health MEC Pierre Uys’s office. TAC claimed it was tired of government’s failure to act on HIV and Aids.
However, the struggle is not over as the TAC and the Aids Law Project (ALP) meet with the department of correctional services on Wednesday over the thorny issue of providing anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment to inmates who need them.
Earlier this week, Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge’s had critised both the Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and President Thabo Mbeki on the confusing statements over aids and treatment.
Madlala-Routledge criticised those who encouraged traditional medicines as opposed to conventional treatment.
Picture: www.dailytimes.com.pk
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