Stand proud TAC family and stand strong – a message from TAC’s Chairperson on our 25th anniversary

I grew up in TAC. I can say that I am the person I am today because of TAC and I am alive today because of TAC. 

I have been living with HIV for 23 years and I became a TAC member in 2009 in Gauteng. I remember that before that time I had seen how hard TAC had fought for things like the rights of pregnant women who were HIV positive to get nevirapine so that their babies had a chance to be born free of getting HIV. 

It was this fight that inspired me and it’s the same fight that has inspired me all these years. It is also that inspiration and courage that I think will make TAC stronger as we look beyond 25 years and we look beyond HIV to fight for all the other issues in our society that we need to stand up for. 

Our fighting spirit is what makes us go and sleep outside the Gauteng premier’s office to demand our rights, like we did in August 2021. We did that to demand answers and action because of the delays in re-opening Charlotte Maxeke Hospital after the fire there in April 2021. At that protest there were young people and also people who are older than I am and they were ready for those cold nights to sleep in the open at Mary Fitzgerald Square. It was then that I was reminded that our spirit to fight is strong and we have no excuse to stop fighting, not until every person in this country has the right and the access to quality healthcare. 

Looking beyond 25 years I want to see us go back to our branches and our districts and build from the ground up once again. Our activists on the ground are the ones who reach people, they are the ones who know what is happening in communities, and they can take the fight to our local clinics. 

I never forget that when I started in TAC I was also just another member in the community. But as I grew with TAC, TAC helped me find my voice and helped me use my voice to speak up for people. And this is what we must be building in our communities. 

Today anywhere I go in the world as TAC’s National Chairperson I see the power of TAC. We are an organisation that has earned our outstanding reputation from every member that has stood firm to the values of our organisation. And it’s because of these members that wherever I go, whoever I am speaking to, when I see my name next to the three letters: T.A.C, I stand proud.   

So stand proud TAC family and stand strong, this struggle may be difficult, unzima lomzabalazo, but we must continue to fight.

Sibongile Tshabalala

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