Dr Victor Holland, who died on 19th April, was born and grew up in the years just before the advent of National Party rule and apartheid. His life and profession as a doctor was blighted by racism and inequality but it also forged a life-long approach to equality in medicine and health.
Social justice
South Africa’s greatest strength is its people
South Africa’s last great viral epidemic started in the early 1980s and is still with us today. But with HIV, unlike with SARS-CoV-2, we wasted 20 years before we found consensus on the need and means to fight HIV. We faced a government, under President Thabo Mbeki, that sought to disable the response and throw into question the science.
A Time of Reckoning
This morning (Monday, April 20) the Cabinet will gather for what may be one of the most important Cabinet meetings in the history of democratic South Africa. Difficult decisions, with profound consequences, need to be taken and then quickly conveyed to an increasingly restless and desperate public.
April is the Cruellest Month: Can we begin to breed lilacs of equality in a dead land?
During lockdown, I work from a room on top of a hill. I have two views. One is outward, over the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, above an urban forest and the rooftops of spacious and secure homes. The pollution has lifted and the vista extends all the way to the Magaliesberg mountains whose outlines are crisp and clear. There’s a calmness in the air. Clouds dance, form playful shapes, undisturbed by perpetual air traffic and the heat generated by the busy city.
Who is blocking emergency relief for the poorest households?
On Monday Maverick Citizen reported on an important letter sent to President Ramaphosa by an influential group of children’s rights organisations, academics and international bodies, including UNICEF, calling for the Child Support Grant to be increased by R500 for the next six months.
Activists step up door-to-door work to protect poor communities
One of the lasting lessons of the Aids epidemic has been the importance of involving communities directly in epidemic prevention, treatment and care. In addition, it has been understood that community activists, who are known and trusted by local residents, are usually the best people to mobilise communities behind public health messages.
The dignity of the damned
For many years I have been a fair-weather friend of two people who work on the corner of Yale and Empire Roads near Wits University in Johannesburg. One sells newspapers and the other sells flowers. Whatever changes privilege or fortune bestows on my life – disappearing overseas for a few months, moving from an office at Wits to an office in Braamfontein – I know they will always be there. Till death do us part.
Human Rights – a vaccine to limit the spread of Covid-19
According to President Ramaphosa Covid-19 is ‘a medical emergency far graver than what the world has experienced in over a century’. He told the nation that: ‘Never before in the history of our democracy has our country been confronted with such a severe situation.’
Call for Action: Covid-19 mass education and decisive action now
A Call to Action made by the Civil Society Coordinating Collective, an informal network of up to 50 organisations based mainly in Gauteng and committed to building a coalition in uniting progressive forces in our struggle for social justice.
We need unity and urgency NOW to stop Coronavirus
Let’s be clear: Our people have no reserves left for another disaster. HIV, tuberculosis, Life Esidimeni, more and more people dying of cancer; diseases that have eaten up our reserves and capacity to respond to a catastrophe. Unemployment has sapped our morale. Hunger is endemic. Our public health systems are all overstretched.