TAC e-newsletter 22 February 2002 Subscriptions/desubscriptions: subscribe@tac.org.za Queries: info@tac.org.za In this issue: * Approximately 3000 people marched to Parliament in Cape Town on Budget Day, 20 February 2002. The march was organised by TAC and the Basic Income Grant Coalition. The Memorandum handed over to the Presidency is reprinted below. * TAC's Response to the Budget is printed below. * TAC Rally outside Pretoria High Court: 9:00am, 1 March, 2002 * TAC Mother-to-Child Transmission Prevention Victory March (KZN Government has announced that it will rollout) in Durban, 2 March 2002. ******************************************************* MEMORANDUM ON THE BASIC INCOME GRANT 20th February 2002 President Thabo Mbeki We, the supporters of the Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) have gathered outside parliament on Budget Day to call for a Basic Income Grant for all, and a comprehensive plan to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. The member organizations of the BIG Coalition listed below represent many millions of South Africans from all sectors of society- including churchgoers; workers; women; the aged; the disabled; the young; those living with HIV/Aids; the NGO community; university and research institutes; and human rights organizations. The greatest threat to our new democracy is the unacceptable level of poverty and inequality in our society, and the effect this has on the lives of our people. At least 22 million people in South Africa - well over half the population - live in abject poverty. On average, they survive on R144 per person per month. We believe that there is a need for a budget, and policies, that are more responsive to the needs of the majority of people in the country, and in particular for a decisive intervention to address the plight of the poor. We believe that the key intervention required to relieve this poverty is the introduction of a Basic Income Grant ? a universal grant of at least R100.00 a month to all South Africans. A Basic Income Grant would provide rapid and sustained relief to all South Africans by: providing everyone with a minimum level of income, enabling the nation's poorest households to better meet their basic needs, stimulating equitable economic development, promoting family and community stability, and affirming and supporting the inherent dignity of all, as set out in our Constitution.. The Basic Income Grant should be founded on the following fundamental principles: Universal Coverage: It should be available to everyone as a right , from cradle to grave, and should not be subject to a means test. Relationship to existing grants: It should expand the social security net. No individual should receive less in social and assistance grants than before the introduction of the Basic Income Grant. This would mean that the real value of old age pensions, child support, disability and other grants would increase, because those receiving these grants would not have to use their whole grant to support other members of their family, who would now receive the Basic Income Grant. Amount: The grant should be no less than R100 per person per month on introduction and should be inflation indexed. Delivery Mechanisms: Payments should be facilitated through Public Institutions, particularly the Post Office Bank. Financing: A substantial portion of the cost of the grant should be recovered progressively through the tax system. This would demonstrate solidarity by all South Africans in efforts to eliminate poverty. The remaining cost should be borne by the fiscus. The idea of a Basic Income Grant has been extensively discussed, and adopted by many organisations around the country, representing millions of poor South Africans. The proposal has been backed up by rigorous academic research, both locally and internationally. The proposal for a Basic Income Grant has been placed before the Committee of Enquiry into Social Security in 2000 and 2001. The Committee?s report is currently being considered by the ?social cluster? of Ministers, before being processed by Cabinet. Since the launch of the BIG Coalition in July 2001, there has been overwhelming support for the idea of the BIG from a broad cross spectrum of the public. This is based on the general recognition that South Africa cannot afford to leave more than half of its population in destitution. If 22 million of the South African population continue to live in poverty, the social crisis of poverty, crime, disease, the HIV pandemic, and economic stagnation will be difficult to overcome. Research conducted for the Committee of Enquiry on Social Security has reached three absolutely important conclusions: The BIG is the most effective policy option for reducing poverty and particularly for eliminating the severest poverty. The BIG will promote economic growth and reduce the poverty tax on workers, which in turn will be a spin-off for job creation and improve social delivery. The South African Government can afford to introduce the Basic Income Grant The BIG would be a right for all South Africans and would not be means tested. This will minimise bureaucratic interference and corruption, and go a long way towards realizing government?s constitutional obligations. The Basic Income Grant will also play an important role in assisting households affected by HIV/Aids, by giving them access to additional resources. Those most affected by the pandemic are of working age, and have little access to social grants, resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of people with no income. By 2011, based on current projections, over half the population will live in households where at least one member is living with HIV/Aids, or has died of the disease. Most households will therefore face an additional economic burden. There is also likely to be a dramatic increase in child only households, pushing greater number of children into destitution. In the absence of state support in the form of a BIG, the majority of households affected by HIV/Aids will therefore be unable to cope. By introducing BIG, on the other hand, social conditions will be improved, which will both help to prevent the spread of the disease, as well as assist those living with the disease to cope better. Over four million people in South Africa today live with HIV/AIDS. If we do not act decisively, most of these people will be condemned to die unnecessary deaths. They do not have access to life-saving medicines that allow most people with HIV/AIDS in North America, Europe and Brazil to live longer, healthier lives. We believe that HIV/AIDS is a national emergency. Last year research reports confirmed that large numbers of people are now dying of AIDS-related illnesses. This pattern of increasing sickness and death among young and poor people in SA will continue for many years to come unless there is a deliberate and united intervention to prevent it. We are here today to ensure that Parliament plays a proactive role in the development of a National HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention Plan. By comprehensively trying to prevent HIV we will go a long way towards freeing the public health system so that it can deal with other illnesses and provide meaningful treatment to those people who are already infected. The public health system must be properly and adequately funded. Prevention of HIV also includes providing the option of treatment for rape survivors and pregnant women with HIV to prevent HIV infection, as well as targeting the social conditions which place people at risk of HIV infection. There is ample evidence that anti retroviral therapy is highly effective and leads to a substantial improvement in the immune system and a longer life. While costly, the comprehensive provision of drugs is an investment in our future, in protecting the livelihoods of our economically active population and the young. It will cost the country far less in the long run than an approach which allows millions of our people to be cut down in the prime of their lives. We therefore urgently need to finalise a comprehensive treatment plan. The government has both a moral and constitutional obligation to look after the most vulnerable of its people. We call on the cabinet and all parliamentarians to seriously consider the call for a Basic Income Grant and a National HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention Plan and urge our democratic government to respond positively to our proposals. We eagerly await the finalisation of policy on these matters by government. Even if an announcement is not made in this years budget, we believe that these decisions should be reflected in a roll-out plan which should be incorporated in next year?s budget. We call for urgent meetings with the relevant government Departments to discuss the matters raised in this memorandum, and to expedite the rapid implementation of these proposals. Signed: Copies to Deputy President Jacob Zuma; Minister of Finance: Mr. Trevor Manuel ; Minister of Social Development: Dr. Zola Skweyiya ;Minister of Health: Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang Chairpersons of Portfolio Committees on Finance; Health; and Social Development ? All Members of Parliament. Issued by the BIG Coalition: Congress of SA Trade Unions; SA Council of Churches; SA Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC); Young Christian Workers; Ecumenical Service for Social Transformation (ESST); Diakonia Council of Churches; SA NGO Coalition (SANGOCO); Treatment Action Campaign (TAC); Aids Consortium; SA Federal Council on Disability; Black Sash; Alliance for Children?s Entitlement to Social Security (ACESS); Gender Advocacy Programme (GAP); Community Law Centre; Socio-Economic rights Project (UWC); UCT Child health Policy Institute; SA New Economics Foundation; Development Resources Centre. ************************************************* TAC Response to the Budget -------------------------- The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) welcomes the increased expenditure on HIV/AIDS in the Budget delivered yesterday by the Minister of Finance. The Budget contains conditional grant allocations for Mother-to-Child Transmission Prevention (MTCTP), Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) and Home-Based Care (HBC), all essential components of an adequate treatment response to the epidemic. These ring-fenced (directed at specific programmes) grants are generally too small to cover the cost of their programmes, but the minister has included a line-item of an extra R400 million for HIV/AIDS, increasing to R900 million in 2004, to be distributed to the provinces. We believe this money can be used to supplement the shortfalls in the budget allocations for MTCTP and HBC. It can also be used to begin pilot antiretroviral treatment programmes throughout the country. However, we are also concerned that this money is not ring-fenced, thereby opening the door for misuse at provincial level. The TAC and other civil society organisations will therefore be focusing some of our advocacy efforts towards provincial governments to ensure that they spend this money on an appropriate response to the epidemic. In future years, this money should be more tightly controlled from the central government and issued as conditional grants for the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS. The TAC also welcomes the additional budget line-item for provincial management (approximately R8 million). This will help build capacity in the provinces to more effectively implement treatment and prevention programmes. An analysis of the HIV/AIDS budget for the next three years indicates that a modest rollout of a treatment programme is feasible but unless a Treatment Plan is developed at national level, this is unlikely to happen. If a Treatment Plan is not developed, this money will be wasted. Significantly greater spending on treatment will be necessary in subsequent years (i.e. after the current 3 year budget) to deal with the expected increase in morbidity and mortality. The Budget Review 2002 states (pg 141) "Widespread use of triple therapy is considered unaffordable at present, but continues to be the subject of various research projects." The Minister of Finance should note that triple therapy can be made a lot more affordable by bringing down the prices of antiretroviral medicines through the use of compulsory licenses. Nevertheless, we are pleased that the Minister has left room for reviewing this position. This is a slightly more enlightened position than that taken by the Minister of Health, who has ruled out the use of antiretrovirals for treating people with HIV. Poverty exacerbates the effects of HIV/AIDS, therefore the TAC has examined the poverty relief measures of the Budget. We are concerned that the Budget inadequately addresses poverty relief measures through the social grant system. Although above-inflation increases were announced for pensions and the child support grant, these are still far too small. In this regard we support the demands of Access and the Basic Income Grant Coalition. The Minister of Finance announced significant tax cuts to middle and high-income earners, partly as a result of a R15 billion windfall, and a budget deficit target of 2.1%. By keeping to the government\us original deficit target of 2.6% and by instituting less generous tax cuts, more could have been given to poverty relief measures through the social grant system. Furthermore, the Budget has no provision for the introduction of a Basic Income Grant, a measure that would go a far way towards reducing poverty. Overall though, we are pleased that progress is being made by the treasury in combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic. There is now a basis to move forward on this issue. We call on the Health Department to follow the example set by the Treasury Department. ********************************