TAC protests at Growth Summit

2003-06-07 10:31

Midrand - A group of Treatment Action Campaign supporters protested at the Growth and Development Summit on Saturday calling on the government to implement a "proper" plan to deal with the HIV/Aids pandemic.

"We are here to say we do need a programme of growth and development and you cannot have that without a plan to deal with HIV. The tragedy is that government hasn't used this as an opportunity to get those with HIV hope," TAC chairman Zackie Achmat told the group of mostly young TAC members.

Many hope that the agreement coming from the summit, which is being held in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, will be the blueprint for South Africa's economic and social recovery.

TAC national secretary Mark Heywood said: "We can only conclude that despite public statements lamenting the gravity of HIV/Aids, business and government have consciously chosen to exclude recognition of the threat of HIV/Aids from the (summit) agreement.

"This is bad for foreign and local investment, bad for growth and a front to the millions of people living with HIV/Aids," he said.

The SA Communist Party also plans to hold demonstrations at the summit. It wants banks to stop refusing to grant home loans in what they consider high-risk areas.

- SAPA