It is in the interests of large multinational companies to secure as many patents as possible. The Treatment Action Campaign, in line with the Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (IP), argues that patents should only be granted for medicines that are truly new and innovative, for example a brand new cancer cure.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 24 October 2013
Thousands of people in South Africa have drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Many of them will die. Death from TB can be slow and horrible. Many of those who do survive will struggle with severe side effects and may need daily pills and injections. Some, like 23-year old Phumeza who described her experience of TB treatment at a Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) press conference last week, will live, but lose their hearing.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 24 October 2013
Thousands of people in South Africa have drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Many of them will die. Death from TB can be slow and horrible. Many of those who do survive will struggle with severe side effects and may need daily pills and injections. Some, like 23-year old Phumeza who described her experience of TB treatment at a Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) press conference last week, will live, but lose their hearing.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 23 October 2013
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last week that if South Africa wants to achieve higher growth and cut unemployment “a social bargain” is needed that would pull together trade unions, business and the government to implement the NDP (National Development Plan). It also suggests that trade unions moderate wage demands and that the State implement its massive infrastructure spending plans. The IMF flagged "escalating labour tensions" as a "key domestic risk".
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 10 October 2013
The O'Regan/Pikoli Commision of Inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha is to go ahead after a Constitutional Court ruling last week. GroundUp went to the streets of Khayelitsha to gauge people’s reaction to the ruling.
Nwabisa Pondoyi
Opinion | 9 October 2013
For the first time since its inception in 2006, the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) conference was held on the African continent during the first week of October. This event brought together a wide variety of stakeholders, from banking groups to mining giants, as well as consultancy and investment firms from around the globe.
Delphine Pedeboy
Opinion | 9 October 2013
On September 30, the government announced the second increase this year in disability grants, old age pensions, care dependency grants and war veterans' pensions. These increases will come in addition to the child support grant and grant-in-aid increases, which were already budgeted for in March. Although the increase is only R10, it will equate to a R41 million increase in government spending per month.
Gabrielle Kelly
Opinion | 7 October 2013
South Africa’s draft intellectual property policy fails to make any mention of the most progressive copyright treaty in years. Blind and visually impaired people will pay the price if this is not rectified in the final policy.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 2 October 2013
Yesterday, the Constitutional Court dismissed a request by the Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa and others to hear a direct appeal against the appointment of the O’Regan/Pikoli Commission of Inquiry.
Jacques van Heerden
Opinion | 2 October 2013
It's now nearly 50 days since Toronto filmmaker John Greyson and London, Ontario Doctor Tarek Loubani were arrested by Egyptian police while on their way to Gaza. They are on the 16th day of a hunger strike against their treatment and detention without charge.
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 2 October 2013
My name is Bayanda Mazwi and I am 17 years old. I am currently doing grade 11 at the Centre of Science and Technology (COSAT) in Khayelitsha. I live with my parents and my two younger siblings in the informal settlement of Monwabisi Park in Khayelitsha.
Bayanda Mazwi
Opinion | 2 October 2013
At the centre of South Africa’s economic inequality and resulting poverty is a lack of access to economic opportunity. Small and medium enterprises have a pivotal role to play in accelerating economic growth for poor and working class communities.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
Opinion | 1 October 2013
NdinguMambhathane, uTshaya, uMxesibe, uMgxubane, Khandanyawana, uMam’Khuma, Nxele, Bhaca, isizukulwana sika Ntswayibana noBhakaqana.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Opinion | 23 September 2013
For me heritage goes deeper than the colour of my skin. It starts from the very beginning, my birth.
Nwabisa Pondoyi
Opinion | 23 September 2013
A little north west of the road which runs from Ixopo into the hills of KwaZulu-Natal immortalised by Alan Paton, is a quiet, slow-moving enclave. The Kamberg Valley, just 78 kilometres east of Lesotho, kneels before the Drakensberg mountain range, crimped by the wind and harshness of the rocky land over millions of years to coalesce into a silencing, breathless serenity.
Greg Solik
Opinion | 23 September 2013
On 18 September 2013, twenty-one Social Justice Coalition activists will appear in the Cape Town Magistrate court for contravening provisions of the Regulation of Gatherings Act.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
Opinion | 18 September 2013