New Year’s Message from the Office of the General Secretary
Dear Comrades,
Daughters and Sons of the African soil, harbingers of the new social order, creators of history and activists for social justice and human rights.
2021 has been a very long year of hard work, dedication, commitment and sacrifices from all TAC and Ritshidze members and staff. As an organisation we had to adjust our ways of work while adhering to lockdown regulations and COVID-19 safety measures.
During this year we have witnessed some of our Comrades, friends and family members contracting COVID-19. Some managed to pull through, while others have succumbed to the virus. As an organisation, we are proud to announce that the majority of TAC members at Branch, Provincial and National level have vaccinated and the majority of them are now going for their second jabs and booster shots. This is an achievement in our march to continue saving the lives of the people.
We have seen the resurgence of a deadly trend, which has led to the deaths of some of our comrades. This is treatment fatigue. We promise to strengthen our efforts to ensure that members and the general public know that they must be welcomed back to care and get the psychosocial support they need.
In 2021, we have also witnessed a change of minds from some of the DoH officials from facility, district, provincial and national level on how they engage with us. While other government officials are still stubborn and resistant to sit around the table and engage with us, we must not lose hope because a thousand miles starts with one step. We can safely say that we have the world’s largest community-led monitoring programme, with TAC and Ritshidze monitoring more than 627 healthcare facilities in 32 districts in 8 provinces of the nine 9 provinces of South Africa. This is a great achievement in our work towards fixing the broken public healthcare system of our country and improving the quality of healthcare services for us and the majority of the public healthcare users.
On behalf of TAC and Ritshidze leadership, allow me to take this opportunity to thank you all Comrades for the hard work and dedication that you have demonstrated over this year. Let us continue to do good for humanity and let 2022 be the year of consolidating our achievements and successes. Let us not get tired of encouraging our family members, friends and loved ones to get vaccinated. Let us not get tired of reminding our Comrades to adhere to their treatment even during the festive season.
We wish you a happy New Year and restful festive season.
Comradely yours,
Anele Yawa
General Secretary
Treatment Action Campaign
