Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
South African Press Association - August 24, 2006
"We deliberately did not apply for permission to protest and we don't apologise for that because we are tired of government's inactivity in the face of the Aids pandemic," said the TAC's general secretary Sipho Mthathi.
She said they were going ahead with the planned international protest and expected to be arrested.
"Police will do what they have to do, but we will continue with the protests until our demands are met. We want action and we want it now".
On Thursday morning TAC members were gathering in Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape.
Protests are also expected to be staged at South African embassies in countries including the United States, Britain, China, Brazil and Canada.
Although the organisation had kept details of its planned actions under wraps, it said it would hand over memorandums to government health departments or premiers in each province.
The TAC was demanding immediate government action to stop what it says are 1 000 new HIV infections and 800 Aids deaths a day in South Africa.
It was also demanding that Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and her director-general, Thami Mseleku, be dismissed immediately "because they failed to address HIV/Aids issues".
"The protests will be peaceful and we will not provoke any officer of the law, but we do expect to be arrested," said Mthathi.
Meanwhile, Parliament's correctional services committee chairperson Dennis Bloem said on Wednesday that the TAC was politicising a serious disease.
Bloem commented after an altercation between members of the TAC and warders at the Durban Westville prison on Wednesday.
The TAC says a "few" of its members went to the prison with health care workers to give assistance to prisoners. The TAC says its members were threatened with guns and dogs by the warders and turned away.
"I wish to condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and irresponsible actions by the TAC," Bloem was quoted on Wednesday as saying by Business Day.
"I do not think that the TAC is really concerned about the lives of people living with HIV/Aids. You cannot politicise such a serious disease and put the lives of people in danger for your own personal reasons," the paper quoted him as saying.
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