Traffic along Sandton drive was brought to a standstill as about 2Â 000 people marched from George Lea Park to the US consulate on Thursday. The march, led by the Treatment Action Campaign and Cosatu, was to deliver a memorandum to the US consulate demanding that the American government not cut funding for HIV/Aids treatment.
Other organisations supporting the march include Médecins Sans Frontières, Section27, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), Aids Rights Alliance of Southern Africa, World Aids Campaign, Community Media Trust, The Aids Consortium, Children’s Rights Centre, Aids Response and the Rural Health Advocacy Project.
Mark Heywood, director of the South African-based Aids Law Project and deputy chairperson of the South African National Aids Council spoke to the demonstrators before the march. “The Obama administration has moral and ethical responsibilities,” he said. “We are grateful to Barack Obama for the billions of dollars that saved people’s lives, but if you can spend billions of dollars to fight a war in Iraq and Afghanistan, you should be spending more money to save lives from Aids.”
“We want Obama to see us,” a demonstrator said before the march, holding up a sign with the words “Save our lives, save our parents’ lives.”
A balloon decorated to look like a giant eyeball and painted with the words “We’re watching you” and a picture of the African continent accompanied the crowd. “The balloon symbolises that we are watching the government and we need life-saving action,” Lesley Odendal from MSF explained to the Mail & Guardian. “This balloon has been all over sub-Saharan Africa.”
Upon arrival at the consulate, the crowd shouted “Yes we can!” referring to Obama’s presidential campaign slogan. During the hour and a half wait for someone from the consulate to emerge and receive the memorandum, the crowd sang songs (such as “Stop sleeping and help those with HIV/Aids”), blew vuvuzelas and danced in the street. At one point a small group lay down in the consulate’s driveway, refusing to move until the memorandum was received.
At 2:35pm Todd Haskell, press officer for the consulate, came out to receive the memorandum. TAC secretary general Vuyiseka Dubula read portions of the document over the megaphone before Haskell signed it and the crowd dispersed.
Old shoes were spread in front of the consulate as a symbol for all the lives that have been lost to HIV/Aids.
“Today is the start and not the finish,” Heywood concluded as the crowd dispersed peacefully.
Doctor Bactrin Killingo from the ITPC told the M&G that the fight against HIV/Aids was far from over. “We need to continue this fight. It will be the worst mistake of the century if funds are cut now.” Killingo warned that a lot of the gains that had been made would be reversed, that more people would die, and that the economy would suffer. “It will be the worst public health crisis the world has seen.”
Nonkosi Khumalo, chairperson of the TAC, said that the march was a “resounding success” despite being “messed around” by the US consulate. “They don’t think the issues we’re raising apply to them. But what we are saying is important,” she told the M&G.
The US embassy in Pretoria issued a media release on Thursday, stating that the US government is keeping its promise to strengthen HIV/Aids programmes in Africa, and that President Barack Obama has actually requested increases for the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) in his 2010 and 2011 budgets.
“The United States remains committed to saving lives in the developing world by strengthening critical health programmes. Through [Pepfar], the US remains fully committed to the fight against HIV/Aids, especially in Africa, and remains the largest funder and technical advisor of the global response.”