An injury to one is an injury to all! – a message from TAC General Secretary on our 25th anniversary
TAC has been my school. I went from being a branch member in KwaNobuhle in the Eastern Cape to holding the national position of General Secretary for the last nine years. TAC has taught me how to become a leader who is empowered and has many tools to stand up and to fight when I see that the living conditions of people need to improve.
TAC has also taught me that one struggle leads to another — they are interlinked. This means we must never forget that we are in a struggle for social justice so we can never turn our backs on what is happening around us, even when the issues are outside of the healthcare system. It means we must fight for climate justice, we must fight against Israel’s imposed apartheid on Palestinians, we must fight against systemic xenophobia.
Looking back over the past 25 years means we must also remember where we came from. There was a time when many people died. Over 330,000 of our people died needlessly. All I can see when I look back are the family members, comrades, and friends who were lost. I think about my brother who died in my hands. Yet we had a denialist government saying that HIV does not cause AIDS. I remember also that there was a time when, at protests, we would be chased by police and they would tear gas us, and shoot us with rubber bullets. But we stood through all of this because we as TAC understood what this means to us.
TAC has always been able to mobilise. We understand the importance of educating our members so that they understand how HIV works in the body, how it can be treated, and how its transmission can be prevented. And we know that we have rights as users of the public healthcare system. That’s why we never need to run away from a clinic.
As TAC we have fought through many hardships but we have also learnt that we build strengths by standing alongside others and also to let them lean on us. Working together with other activists and civil society organisations, we have been able to become stronger, to put increased pressure on government as well as pharmaceutical and mining companies, and achieve our victories.
As TAC we have marched, and we are not afraid to march again to demand justice. We will continue to fight until we are heard and until our demands are met. Section 27 of the Constitution talks about the right to health. We need to use the power that lies with us to demand what is rightfully ours in the Constitution. To paraphrase Bob Marley, we need to get up, stand up, and fight for our rights. If it means we must be arrested, then we will.
As we look to our next chapter we must focus on ensuring that everyone living with HIV is started and stays on treatment. We must focus on ensuring no-one is turned away from our clinics, or forced out because of unbearable experiences. No-one who is treatment literate just stops taking ARVs, so we cannot continue to be told we are “defaulting”. It is the crisis in the health system that is making people living with HIV stop taking ARVs. The health system must be fixed so that we are actually able to adhere to our treatment.
People living with HIV who are late for appointments and told to stand at the back of the queue, you must refuse. People who are denied services without a transfer letter, you must refuse. If they are mocking you or violating you for being queer, trans, a sex worker or using drugs, now is the time to speak out. You will be fighting for your rights. You will be fighting for what is in the Constitution. You will be fighting for what is in the National Health Act. An injury to one is an injury to all! We must stand up and be united!
As the country moves towards National Health Insurance, what has been called the “promised land of healthcare”, we must demand that our facilities are in good condition, and can provide quality services, so they are ready for roll-outs and there are no excuses for delays. We must ensure that systems are put in place so that our tax paying money meant for healthcare is not looted. We must ensure that migrants and stateless people are also included. Where challenges and ill-treatment continue in our clinics, we must continue to escalate and expose what is happening in our clinics. Even if we are two, we must take that struggle up. We cannot take it as normal when people are suffering. Something must be done! There must be accountability.
We must also demand that government urgently reforms our patent laws so that medicines for cancer, mental health, hepatitis, and many other diseases are made affordable. Today people are suffering and dying because medicines are too expensive. We cannot afford to keep lining the pockets of international pharmaceutical companies at the expense of people who need vital medicines. Now is the time to fix our patent laws!
Above all, as we look to our future and to why we must still stand up and fight; I say to members use your fear of dying, your fear of being left impoverished and your fear of injustice to find your courage to stand up, to fight against the evils. We have to do this for ourselves, because no-one else is going to do it for us. We must keep on pushing. We must fight and fight until the bitter end. Life goes on and the struggle continues. This is the fight of our lives.
Anele Yawa
Read our full report to mark our 25th anniversary here: https://www.tac.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/TAC@25-power2people-web.pdf
