This is an archive of the Treatment Action Campaign's public documents from December 1998 until October 2008. I created this website because the TAC's website appears unmaintained and people were concerned that it
was becoming increasingly hard to find important documents.

The menu items have been slightly edited and a new stylesheet applied to the site. But none of the documents have been edited, not even for minor errors. The text appears on this site as obtained from the Internet Archive.

The period covered by the archive encompassed the campaign for HIV medicines, the civil disobedience campaigns, the Competition Commission complaints, the 2008 xenophobic violence and the PMTCT, Khayelitsha health workers and Matthias Rath court cases.

 

Activities

Photographs

August 2000

  • Christopher Moraka, who made an enormous contribution to TAC, died of AIDS related illnesses. A funeral was held in Nyanga, Cape Town at Christopher's home. Following the funeral, a spontaneous march through the streets of Nyanga took place, led by TAC activists and Christopher's family and friends. 
  • TAC sent a letter to the Minister of Health explaining our views on how a Mother-To-Child-Transmission Prevention programme should be implemented.

July 2000

  • TAC announced that it would take legal action against the Minister of Health in order to get the South African government to implement a country-wide Mother-To-Child-Transmission Prevention (MTCTP) programme. The Minister of Health announced that she would be holding a meeting in August to discuss MTCTP. TAC, therefore, agreed to postpone legal action until August 18, 2000.
  • TAC announced that it would begin a defiance campaign to bring generic medication into South Africa.
  • MSF/TAC Conference on Treatment Access took place in Durban City Hall on 9 July, 2000. Over 1000 people attended.
  • The Global March for Treatment Access took place in Durban on 9 July, 2000.
  • A memorandum was handed over to a number of dignitaries at the Global March for Treatment Access. 

June 2000

  • Demonstrations against Pfizer took place in Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg.
  • TAC sent a letter sent to William C. Steere, International AIDS Profiteer and CEO of Pfizer.

May 2000

  • The TAC National Committee Meeting took place in Durban on 20-21 May. Organisation for the Global March on the 9th of July in Durban has begun! 
  • TAC demonstrated outside parliament calling on the South African government to implement a country-wide mother-to-child-transmission prevention program. 
  • TAC's campaign for Pfizer to reduce Fluconazole continued. Posters indicating that William C. Steere, the CEO of Pfizer, is an AIDS Profiteer were stuck up around Cape Town and Durban. The campaign against Pfizer will continue until the current negotiations for a reduced Fluconazole price (for both systemic thrush and cryptococcal meningitis) between the government and Pfizer have concluded favourably. 
  • TAC volunteers gave evidence before a special parliamentary committee hearing on HIV pharmaceutical pricing. Click here to read a summary of the Parliamentary Hearings (text file). 

April 2000

  • Call to March at the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa on 9 July, 2000. Please endorse the call. 
  • TAC activists demonstrated around the country against the exhorbitant price of Fluconazole. 

March 2000

  • TAC begins campaign for a price reduction on Fluconazole/Diflucan, manufactured by Pfizer. A letter was delivered to Barry Smith, CEO of Pfizer, South Africa and William Steere, CEO and chairperson of Pfizer, globally.

December 1999

  • In Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg the TAC organised demonstrations to highlight questions about treatment.  Among the most successful was a community march in Katlehong, which was joined by the Gauteng MEC for Health. A memorandum was handed over to the Superintendent of the local hospital, proposing a partnership to improve access to HIV testing, counselling and treatment.

November 1999

  • A meeting with the PMA, which was led by the General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, resulted in an offer by the PMA to: (a) propose an alternative wording to the contested section of the Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Act and (b) to participate in a meeting with TAC and government representatives to discuss an essential drugs plan.
  • TAC Vigil outside PMA offices.

September 1999

  • Meeting with the Minister of Health and Director General of the Department of Health to explain the objectives of the TAC, and to seek clarity on government policy on the implementation of a programme to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV.