Week Ahead 15 – 19 October

Week Ahead 15 – 19 October

“If you can do nothing else, do whatever is in your power to make the people in your life feel completely unashamed of who they are.” – Sam Killermann, comedian, author, and award-winning activist.

Monday 15 October

Head of Education Faranaaz Veriava will be presenting on ‘Social Justice: The use of Litigation in Education’ at the Zenex Foundation in Cape Town. The Zenex Foundation is an independent trust established in 1995 to deliver programmes and projects in mathematics, science and language education in South Africa. The Foundation has a long history of innovation in the education sector and is respected as an independent and influential grant-maker.

Field Researcher Solanga Milambo, accompanied by members of Basic Education For All (BEFA), will be meeting with the School Governing Body (SGB) of Ralehumane Combined school in Uitspan, Waterberg district in order to discuss the school’s infrastructure challenges.

Mark Heywood has written an article for the Daily Maverick on the shocking indifference of some public health officials towards patients. You can read it here

Monday 15 October – 16 October

Attorney Ektaa Deochand, Legal Researcher Pamela Choga and Field Researcher Patrick Mdletshe will be in Kwa Zulu-Natal consulting with special needs schools on their lack of support staff such as nurses, house mothers and house fathers to assist with the needs of learners.
Tuesday 16 October

Executive Director Mark Heywood will be speaking at the 4th Forbes Africa Future of Health Summit at the Hyatt in Rosebank. He will be setting the scene on the “State of the healthcare system in SA” to kick off the Summit. This will be followed by panel discussions on the National Health Insurance (NHI), the Cost of Healthcare, Technology in Healthcare, as well as Preventative Healthcare.

Tuesday 16 October – 17 October

Members of the SECTION27 team will be conducting Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) and Sexual Violence (SV) Workshops at our office on Tuesday and on Thursday in Katlehong.

Field Researcher Solanga Milambo will be conducting a workshop on the Youth focused Spotlight edition for members of the National AIDS council as well as other civil society organisations in Mopani district, Limpopo. You can read the issue here

Thursday 18 October

Solanga Milambo will be attending the Limpopo Men’s Parliament to be held at the Limpopo Legislature in Lebowakgomo. The aim of the Men’s Parliament is to take the lead on addressing issues concerning Gender Based Violence (GBV), HIV, TB & Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) through behavioural change in men and boys.
Friday 19 October

Senior Communications Officer Ngqabutho Mpofu and Budget Analyst Daniel McLaren will be attending the mid-term budget policy statement Budget Basics training. The Medium Term Budget Policy Statement sets out the policy framework for the coming budget and describes government’s goals and objectives, explains the economic environment within which those objectives are being addressed, and projects the total level of resources that will be available. BJC will be using the week before to start building budget literacy in the sector.

Friday 19 October – 20 October

Several members of the SECTION27 health team will be attending the Presidential Health Summit in Birchwood, Johannesburg. President Cyril Ramaphosa will lead the government delegation to the two-day Presidential Health Summit that will be convened on Friday and Saturday at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg. SECTION27 will send a delegation from the health team to attend. The President is scheduled to address the Summit plenary at 11am, on Friday. The Presidential Health Summit is touted as bringing together key stakeholders from various constituencies in the health sector, to “deliberate and propose solutions to address the challenges facing the South African health system”.

The Presidential Health Summit follows a Consultative Meeting held earlier this year, on the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, with a particular focus on the recently gazetted National Health Insurance Bill and the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill, where the President reiterated the commitment of the South African Government to strengthening the health system.

SECTION27 will be raising a number of key issues and concerns in the run-up to and during the Summit. Keep an eye on Spotlight for various opinion pieces from Mark Heywood and Spotlight writers.

The week that was:

SECTION27 joined the country in commemorating the one year anniversary of the start of the Life Esidimeni arbitration on the 9^th of October. You can read the judgment here. Ngqabutho Mpofu reflects on it here. World Mental Health Day was commemorated a day later on 10 October. Health-e’s Amy Green looks at it in relation to Life Esidimeni here.