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Socio-economic transformation-progress or regression?
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2. Building a People-driven and Progressive HIV/AIDS Movement
The impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in our country and on the continent is already devastating; millions of people will suffer poor health; that there are indications that the death rate in our country is rising and that our Human Development Index is declining; women face an increased burden of care and support and are most vulnerable to HIV infection as a result of patriarchal practices and attitudes in society.
In the view of the South African Communist Party (SACP), a fundamental challenge in arresting this pandemic is to bring down the rate of new infections by a mass campaign and public education promoting awareness about the imperative to change behaviour.
The success of such a campaign is inextricably linked to the struggle for human development, including a radical improvement in literacy, housing provision, and the building of a strong, efficient and effective public health system and employment.
An effective prevention campaign needs to be complemented by an appropriate treatment programme that can extend the lives and improve the quality of life of persons living with HIV/AIDS and give hope to millions of infected and affected people. In this regard, as a society, we just fell short of a breakthrough to mark this year's World AIDS Day given the delays at the NEDLAC negotiations on a National HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention Plan. These negotiations must continue and reach a decisive conclusion.
These NEDLAC negotiations confirm that since Cabinet released its major statement on HIV/AIDS on 17 April, unity in action between government, civil society and the people is possible and necessary to defeat the pandemic.
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| 2.1 The Private Sector |
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The private sector in South Africa is manifestly failing to contribute effectively to combating this pandemic.
This is shown by the wanton discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS by the majority of institutions in workplaces and in the financial, medical aid, private health institutions. Only last year, the Financial Sector Campaign Forum had to engage the Standard Bank and the Banking Council because they were evicting HIV/AIDS orphans from houses bonded to their late parents. In many cases, these evictions are compounded by policies of insurance companies which exclude HIV/AIDS cover. These policies are cruel, inhumane and reflect the poverty of private commercial banks and the insurance industry in our country.
Another dimension which the SACP is critical of is the private appropriation of knowledge in the form of patent and intellectual property rights. This dimension is an effective barrier to making affordable medicines available to poor countries.
In fact, the private sector has largely left this challenge to government and community organisations. This is not to paint the private sector as a whole with the same brush. Important initiatives have started including the work led by the National of Mineworkers and the South African Transport Allied Workers' Union in the mining and transport industries.
It is undeniable that the private sector holds massive resources which can be mobilised to fight this pandemic.
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2.2 The way forward |
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It is clear to the SACP that the way forward has to be informed by an acknowledgement that the struggle against HIV/AIDS is, fundamentally and essentially, a struggle over the direction, content, trajectory and the direction of transformation of South Africa suffering the legacy of apartheid of racism, gender oppression and economic inequalities. This might sound obvious. However, because many of us find ourselves in air-conditioned offices, well-catered functions and conferences, well-funded organisations, we sometimes approach the challenge of fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic not from the standpoint of people and communities affected by HIV/AIDS, but from our narrow positions.
Insufficient attention is paid to the struggle against HIV/AIDS discrimination in all spheres of society, in particular in the workplace and in the financial sector. An important dimension in the SACP-led financial sector campaign is a strategy which focuses on litigation, consumer activism and policy reform to end and remove unfair discrimination. The Equality Act and Employment Equity Act will be useful tools in this regard.
Amongst the agreements reached at the NEDLAC Summit (held on the Financial Sector held on 20 August) was a commitment to exploring automatic insurance cover of up to a bond of R150 000 for all, including those of our people who are HIV positive. If this is indeed going to be a path-breaking achievement, an agreement must be reached within the first quarter of next year. This requires that it must be energetically taken forward as a priority in the post-NEDLAC Summit processes.
The mobilisation of our people behind the implementation of an holistic and appropriate government-led strategy to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic must be taken to a higher level through a focus on the building of a people-based and people-driven HIV/AIDS movement. Such a movement must be part of overall struggles for social transformation.
Such a movement will be the best monument we will ever build in memory of those who have passed away because of HIV/AIDS. Such a movement will be our best weapon in the struggle against HIV/AIDS. Such a movement can give us hope since it should transcend the individualism of the NGO Industry and can really contribute to transform people's lives, deal a deadly blow to ignorance and ready us to be dynamic, portable, flexible and strong in our diverse struggles including the important struggle for affordable medicines. This requires actively strengthening the work of community organisations involved in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic
The SACP will specifically focus on the building of such a movement which must intensify the campaign against multinational pharmaceutical companies to provide cheaper drugs, not only anti-retrovirals, but also drugs to combat the many curable diseases afflicting our country and continent.
The SACP is also concerned about the need to unite all organisations on HIV/AIDS front in order to overcome what, in many instances, are petty differences.
Serious attention needs to be paid to consciously seeking to transform gender relations and stereotypes that make women and girls the most vulnerable to HIV infection.
Finally, the above need to be linked to the building of a comprehensive public health system and the transformation of the medical aid industry in favour of on a national health insurance system.
The struggle against HIV/AIDS and the specific issues raised above hold a priority position in the 5 year Programme of Action and the 2003 Annual Programme of Action of the SACP as adopted by its Central Committee Lekgotla held from 28 to 30 November.
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