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SECTION27 is a public interest law centre that uses and develops the law to advance human rights.
On 16 and 17 September 2010, over 60 members of civil society organisations and trade unions met to discuss their work and their efforts – independently and through the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) – to strengthen the national response to HIV and to achieve the goals of the National Strategic Plan (NSP). The aim of the meeting was to define a new agenda going forward for civil society activism both within and independent of SANAC and to focus on our human right to health. 
India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) recently published a discussion paper on compulsory licensing and made a call for interested parties to make submissions. On 7 October 2010, SECTION27 made a submission. 
People living with HIV in Zimbabwe continue to be confronted with corruption and impediments in accessing treatment (which is seldom talked about in our setting). Funders and donors are often not aware that a large proportion of their investment is lost to corruption which is rampant in the health system. The majority of the victims are poor people who live on less that 100USD per day and are expected to pay a significant proportion of their salary on this monthly “corruption tax”. 
TAC and SECTION27 call on government and unions to find an urgent solution to the human resource crisis in the health system. On 6th September 2010 the public sector strike was suspended to allow trade unions to consult their members on whether to accept the government’s revised offer on pay and other conditions. We urge the union members to seriously consider this offer as the public health system cannot afford a return to the strike. We are aware that many workers will regard acceptance of the offer as a compromise and that it may not satisfy public sector workers’ demands for a reasonable standard of living or a salary commensurate with the contribution they make to our society. Nonetheless we believe that it should be accepted. 
More than a year after their finalisation and after many frustrated attempts by civil society organisations and the media to access them – including through the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 – SECTION27 and the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) have finally been leaked copies of all the provincial reports compiled by the Integrated Support Teams (ISTs). Up to this point, the only report we have received officially is a consolidated report available here. This report is important, but lacks the necessary detail to allow civil society to engage with different challenges in different provinces. The IST reports on each province were commissioned by the former Minister of Health, Barbara Hogan, in response to the massive budgetary shortfalls that over-whelmed provincial departments of health (PDoHs) in the 2008/2009 financial year, which reached crisis levels when the Free State Department of Health issued a moratorium on the initiation of new patients onto antiretroviral treatment in November 2008. After civil society pressure, that moratorium was finally lifted in February 2009.
The reports on this page are those of the Integrated Support Teams (ISTs) which have been provided to SECTION27 and the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP). The IST reports were commissioned by the former Minister of Health, Barbara Hogan, in response to the massive budgetary shortfalls that over-whelmed provincial departments of health (PDoHs) in the 2008/2009 financial year, which reached crisis levels when the Free State Department of Health issued a moratorium on the initiation of new patients onto antiretroviral treatment from November 2008 to February 2009. 10 reports were commissioned in total, one for each provincial department of health and one for the National Department of Health – which we have not been able to access as of yet. In addition, a Consolidated Report was produced that pulled together findings from the individual department reports. These reports contain an honest, sobering assessment of the inadequate financial capacity of provincial departments of health that have led to the development of over R7.5 billion in provincial debt as of April 2009. The findings in these reports reveal fundamental failures in political and bureaucratic leadership, inappropriate financial management systems, inadequate monitoring and evaluation systems, and a failure to plan appropriately for human resources, amongst others. 
A week into the public sector strike the Treatment Action Campaign and SECTION27 regret that no agreement has been reached between striking public service workers and the government. We support the demands of workers and their right to strike. But we regret the growing polarisation, pain and loss of life. This is now a political crisis that requires political leadership and a solution. 
In A Country For My Daughter Nonkosi Khumalo travels around the country investigating the stories of brave women whose court cases have transformed the law in South Africa for the better. The cases range from rape within a family to holding the Minister of Safety and Security liable, in cases where police were involved in violence against women. Through these stories, Nonkosi learns of the laws available to protect South African women and how they can be used. 
The politics of South Africa after the World Cup: Strategies for taking forward struggles for equality, dignity and social justice in South Africa SECTION27 was launched at a conference of activists, legal professionals, and civil society organisations on May 6 – 7 2010. That conference began a discussion on the state of the Constitution, human rights and rule of law in South Africa, and the role that activists, lawyers, and civil society organisations should have in the continued struggle for the realisation of equality and dignity in South Africa. In continuation of the discussions begun at that conference, SECTION27 hosted an activist dialogue – The Politics of South Africa after the World Cup: Strategies for Taking Forward Struggles for Equality, Dignity and Social Justice in South Africa – on 5 August 2010 to further discuss the links between current politics, the use of human rights law and the Constitution, and struggle. 
The Social Justice organisations listed below support the right of public sector workers to take industrial action to enforce their demand for a reasonable salary increase and other demands related to their conditions of employment. Quality service delivery depends on a fairly remunerated, motivated and accountable public service. |
 
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Legal advice
Understanding NHI