4 March 2003

Please circulate widely

Dear All

Every day more than 600 people in South Africa die of HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. Many lives could have been saved had our government shown urgency and commitment. We still have a chance to save millions of lives. Regrettably, the Minister of Health continues to equivocate. After four years of negotiations, petitions, marches, litigation and appeals, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has decided to begin a peaceful campaign of civil disobedience on 21 March 2003. TAC requests your support in this campaign. We are mobilising 600 people across the country who will volunteer to get arrested in our civil disobedience campaign. To volunteer, please fill out the form below and fax it to 021 788 3507. Please state if we can use your name in adverts of people who will volunteer to be arrested.

We require volunteers with easy access to Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, East London, Port Elizabeth and Nelspruit. If you volunteer, please be prepared to be asked to participate in an action some time between the 18th and 25th of March. If you can only make it at certain times or dates, please note these on your reply form. We aim to sustain our campaign until government makes an unequivocal and irreversible commitment to anti-retroviral therapy for all people who need it in the public sector. We also demand that government returns to NEDLAC to negotiate the national treatment and prevention plan.

All civil disobedience actions will be peaceful and dignified, but those participating are almost certain to be arrested. We will try to arrange immediate release after arrest, but there is a possibility of spending between one and three nights in police cells. TAC will provide full legal support, bail and other resources related to civil disobedience actions. We will not provide legal support or bail for anyone who commits an act of violence. Our aim is to change government policy and to unite people to condemn government culpability in the deaths of more than 600 people every day. We will not be provoked into acts of violence. We aim to expose the violence of allowing 600 children, men and women to die because they are poor and cannot afford medicines.

We urge government to act immediately to prevent the civil disobedience campaign. We appeal to every person in South Africa to call on government to act with speed, commitment and humility to fulfill its constitutional obligations.

Show your solidarity. Join the TAC civil disobedience campaign. Sign on with the form below.

Forward to a national treatment and prevention plan.

Zackie Achmat on behalf of the TAC National Executive Committee

Reply by fax only to: 021 788 3726 or hand in to your provincial TAC office.

I Volunteer for TAC Civil Disobedience
I volunteer to participate in the TAC Civil Disobedience campaign. I am participating in civil disobedience because millions of people with HIV/AIDS in our country are dying unnecessary, premature and avoidable deaths. They die because they do not have access to anti-retroviral medicines and proper care. My conscience is guided by our Constitution that guarantees the right to life, dignity, equality and access to health care. I want government to sign the NEDLAC framework agreement for a national HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention plan. I also want government to commit to rolling out antiretroviral therapy for people with HIV/AIDS.

I volunteer to (scratch out "Be arrested" if you do not wish to be arrested):

Be arrested
Organise activities in support of the civil disobedience campaign including support for people who may be arrested.

If I have chosen to be arrested:

I am over 18 years of age.
I understand that this might mean spending a short time in prison and ultimately getting a criminal record. However, I understand that TAC will try to defend me from getting a criminal record and do all it can to ensure that I spend as little time in prison as possible.
So long as any act I commit is non-violent and within the instructions of the TAC National Executive Committee, TAC must provide me with legal support for any charges I face resulting from my civil disobedience actions.
Full Name: ____________________________________________________

Signature: ____________________________________________________

ID Number: ____________________________________________________

Date: ___________________________

Address: ____________________________________________________

Work Tel: ___________________ Home Tel: ____________________

Cell: ___________________ Email: ____________________

Person to Contact if I am arrested: _________________________________________

Telephone number of person to contact: _____________________________________

Dates and times that I cannot participate: _____________________________________

Below is my suggestion for a civil disobedience action (optional):