Programme Director,
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe;
Minister of Correctional Services, Mr Sibusiso Ndebele;
Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi;
MEC of Health in the Western Cape, Mr Theunis Botha;
Cllr James
Deputy Chairperson of SANAC, Ms Steve Letsike
Regional Commissioner of Correctional Services
I associate myself with the warm words of welcome and recognition extended by our programme director and those who have spoken before me.
I would like to convey the greetings and apologies of the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mr Jeff Radebe.
We are gathered here to commemorate World Tuberculosis Day. We join people across the world in building public awareness about the epidemic of tuberculosis and the collective efforts aimed at eliminating the epidemic.
President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in Pollsmoor Prison for over six years of the 27 years that he was incarcerated for his contribution to the struggle against apartheid, for national liberation, democracy and human rights.
He suffered from TB whilst he was here.
He said that, “no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.
It is therefore appropriate that World TB Day 2013 is being marked here at the Pollsmoor Correctional Facility during Human Rights Month, which this year is being marked under the theme: “United in Advancing Socio-economic Freedom for All!”
South Africa’s commitment to human rights in relation to TB and HIV is rooted in a number of national and international legal instruments.
Our Constitution provides in Section 27 that, "Everyone has the right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health care."
Our Constitutional Court decided recently in the case of Dudley Lee v Minister of Correctional Services that there is a legal duty on the responsible authorities to provide adequate health care services as part of the constitutional right of all prisoners to conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity.
South Africa is committed to the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals which recognise that realising the right to health care and addressing the HIV epidemic are integral to reducing poverty.
Within the SA National Council on AIDS, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development convenes the sub-committee responsible for Strategic Objective 4 of the National Strategic Plan for HIV, STIs and TB 2012-2016 which is to: “Ensure protection of human rights and improve access to justice."
The Plan recognises the need to consider interventions to address possible shortcomings in the implementation of laws, policies, and public health interventions.
During the consultations to develop the Plan, everyone involved, civil society, government departments and technical advisors accepted that human rights should be central to and embedded in all aspects of the Plan. That consensus will go a long way towards securing safety, dignity and equality for people living with or vulnerable to HIV and TB infection.
The plan divides this goal into distinct sub-objectives, three of which are:
- Ensure that rights are not violated during the implementation of any NSP intervention. If there are violations, there should be a way to monitor such abuses and deal with them in the appropriate forum.
- Reduce HIV and TB discrimination in the workplace.
- Reduce unfair discrimination in access to services, including health care.
In addition to the above, the Rules Board for Courts of Law is currently investigating more effective ways of dealing with TB patients appearing in court, in this regard a Guidance Note has been received from the Department of Health on the management of drug resistant TB patients appearing in court.
So on this World TB Day we pledge our support for the Stop TB Partnership and the Stop TB in my Lifetime World TB Day Campaign.
I thank you.
