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.

Newsletters 2001

Newsletters, documents and statements in 2001

14 December 2001
TAC press release on MTCT Court Case judgement.

TAC wins MTCT Court Case!

13 December 2001
Judgement to be handed down in MTCT Court Case on 14 December.

30 November 2001
Interfaith Service on World Aids Day

22 November 2001
Human Rights Watch urges President Mbeki to stop court fight on AIDS drugs.

21 November 2001
TAC to announce plans for National and International Mobilisation supporting MTCT Court Case.

19 November 2001
Bredell Consensus Statement on Anti-retroviral Treatment.

09 November 2001
TAC Wins MTV Free Your Mind Award at the MTV Europe Awards in Germany.

06 November 2001
TAC reply in MTCT Court Case. Switching from a Protease Inhibitor: The Answers Are Known, It's Time to Move On - by Dr Stephen Becker. Mbeki misinformed on AIDS drugs, says expert (copied from Business Day).

01 November 2001
Statement by Mark Heywood on the papers submitted by government in the MTCT court case.

26 October 2001

  • MTCTP court date set for 26 November: Court Papers

  • Details of Upcoming TAC Actions for MTCTP

    • 1 November: Durban: KZN Interfaith Service

Venue: Gandhi-Luthuli Hall (West Street Entrance, City Hall)

Time: 12:30 - 13:30

Keynote Speaker: Jerry Coovadia

  • 26 November: Cape Town: March to Parliament
    Venue: Keizersgracht Street
    Time: 11:00 activities begin, 13:00 March begins

  • 25-26 November: Pretoria: Demonstration outside High Court
    Venue: Church Square
    Time: 25 November Night vigil at 8pm. 26 November March starting at Church Street 8am.
  • 1 December: Johannesburg: Gauteng Interfaith Service
    Venue: Catholic Cathedral, Corner Nugget and Saratoga, City Centre
    Time: 12:00 - 14:00 (preceded by a March from Library Gardens starting at 10:00)

  • International Supporters: Please fax/mail the Minister of Health asking her to settle the court case and meet TAC's demands.

    • Fax Numbers
      Cape Town: (27) (21) 465 7407/8
      Pretoria: (27) (12) 328 4773/4/5

    • Postal Addresses
      Cape Town: Private Bag X9070 Cape Town 8000
      Pretoria: Private Bag X399 Pretoria 0001

23 October 2001
MTCTP court date set for 26 November 2001. Details of Upcoming TAC Actions for MTCTP. International Supporters, please fax/mail the Minister of Health asking her to settle the court case and meet TAC's demands.

18 October 2001
Urgent Letter to Minister of Health Regarding MTCTP Court Case.

12 October 2001
Zackie Achmat, TAC Chairperson, has been awarded the first Desmond Tutu Leadership Award.

08 October 2001
TAC statement on the Interfaith Service at St Georges Cathedral, 7 October 2001.

02 October 2001
MTCT Court case and the Interfaith Service at St Georges Cathedral, Cape Town on Sunday, 7 October 2001.

20 September 2001
Open letter to Amir Attaran from Nathan Geffen on IIPI research

31 August 2001
Two joint NGO statements.

24 August 2001
TAC to picket provincial health departments and national parliament.

21 August 2001

  • TAC lodges court papers against the Minister of Health for failing to sufficiently implement mother-to-child transmission prevention.

3 August 2001

19 August 2001
TAC press statement announcing details of court action to save lives.

3 August 2001
Article on TAC's court action for MTCTP that appeared in the Business Day (31 July). Letter to the Kaiser Foundation regarding the booklet Impending Catastrophe Revisited. A study by University of Cape Town researchers, Catherine Orrell, Motasim Badri and Robin Wood destroys the myths that Africans or poor people cannot adhere to antiretroviral treatment. A roundup of the main TAC events in the last few days.

20 September 2001
Joint Statement on MRC report & TAC letter to Minister of Health on delayed MRC Report.

18 September 2001
TAC press release regarding the Parliamentary Committee Hearing on "How best can South Africa address the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls?"

19 July 2001
Treatment Action Campaign assessment of Pfizer's Diflucan donation.

17 July 2001
Press alert by Oxfam and Treatment Access Campaign.

16 July 2001
TAC Challenge to Board of Health-Care Funders. Report on some TAC activities in Kwazulu-Natal, Gauteng and Western Cape. The Johannesburg General Hospital HIV clinic is now open three days a week. Richard Jeffreys debunks some myths about antiretrovirals.

12 June 2001
The meeting on 11th June 2001 between the minister of health and representatives of the Treatment Action Campaign. Regarding the complaints made by TAC about the repeated and unjustified postponements of implementation of the pilot projects to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

07 June 2001
Upcoming Events and Announcements.

04 June 2001
The death of Nkosi Johnson and some facts about children in South Africa and other developing countries.

01 June 2001
Al-Ameen Kafaar, the head of the Western Cape branch of the Government Communications and Information Services (GCIS), misinforms on HIV/AIDS treatment in a letter to the Cape Argus (30 May 2001).

10 May 2001
Updated short statement by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) regarding the reduction of price for ddI and d4T.

10 May 2001
Statement by the AIDS Consortium about the Johannesburg HIV Clinic not accepting any new patients living with HIV.

09 May 2001
Press release from COSATU welcoming the South African Chamber of Business and Anglo American offer to provide cheap anti-AIDS drugs to suffering employees.

08 May 2001
The Bristol-Myers Squibb $1/Day offer and the TAC activist protests at Bellville.

08 May 2001
TAC press release including:

  • Press Statement on Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Prevention Programme

  • Letter sent by TAC to Minister of Health (26 April 2001)

  • Reply by Department of Health to the above letter (30 April 2001)

  • Letter sent by TAC to the Medicines Control Council on Nevirapine Registration (17 April 2001)

24 April 2001
An explanation by the Treatment Action Campaign of the Medicines Act and the Implications of the court victory against the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA).

19 April 2001
The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and all the pharmaceutical company applicants have unconditionally withdrawn their court application against the South African Government.

17 April 2001
COSATU/TAC : Joint media statement calling upon all their members and the whole community to join protests outside the Pretoria High Court from 18th-25th April 2001 against the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA).

11 April 2001
Details regarding the affidavit submitted in response to the PMA to the Pretoria High Court.

15 March 2001
Bristol-Myers Squibb concedes patents on anti-retrovirals in Africa.

13 March 2001
TAC Statement to President Mbeki on AIDS as an Emergency

12 March 2001
Details regarding the "Rally for Affordable and Equal Treatment Now!" and TAC National Congress.

07 March 2001
Weekly newsletter for 07th March 2001. The joint press release by COSATU, TAC, MSF, Oxfam and the Consumer Project on Technology and why TAC applied to join the court case as a friend of the court.

01 March 2001
March events and letter to Bruce Lehman.

27 February 2001
Details regarding the International Day of Action on 5 March and the TAC statement on the US complaint against Brazil at WTO. Also see this statement.

15 February 2001
The TAC statement on the Democratic Alliance statement supporting compulsory licensing and parallel importation of HIV/AIDS drugs.

11 February 2001
Memorandum Addressed to President Mbeki and Handed Over to Dr Nkomo at Parliament

08 February 2001
The TAC press release response to the CIPLA offer of Anti-Retrovirals for R400.00 per month.

06 February 2001
Letter to the International Intellectual Property Institute responding to the IIPI report on patents and the proposed conference.

05 February 2001
Response to US complaint against Brazil at WTO.

30 January 2001
Details regarding the interfaith service at St Georges Cathedral and the march to parliament on 12 February 2001.

19 January 2001
TAC Call for International Day of Action Against Pharmaceutical Profiteering on 5 March 2001

12 January 2001
TAC announcement: Defiance campaign's first legal shipment of fluconazole arrives!