Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - March 30, 2003
Edwin Lombard
If the government refuses to meet the Treatment Action Campaign's demand for a comprehensive HIV/Aids treatment plan with time frames, this will be the next step in its civil disobedience campaign, said its spokesman Nonkosi Khumalo.
She said the organisation was planning an international day of solidarity worldwide with protests in front of South African embassies.
ANC leaders were showing some arrogance in their attitude towards its civil disobedience campaign, said Khumalo.
The organisation is determined to proceed with the charges it laid this week against Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin, accusing them of culpable homicide for failing to use state resources to fight the Aids epidemic.
"We will be watching to see if the case is being investigated and will take on the government in court," said Khumalo.
She described the campaign as a success, and said sit-ins at government buildings were among other actions planned. So far 160 people have been arrested in Cape Town, with the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal offices of the TAC reporting no arrests because police had refused to arrest anyone.
"In the next phase of our protests, we are looking at importing generic drugs ourselves and giving them to doctors at public hospitals," said Khumalo.
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