In early 2001, when many believed multinational corporations were invincible, and South Africa's new democratic government was so firmly entrenched that it did not need to listen to the voice of citizens, a group of activists was able to pressure international pharmaceutical firms to abandon a court action which sought to prevent the government from importing cheaper medicines. In August 2003, a coalition of organisations and individuals won their sustained campaign to press a resistant government to approve a comprehensive AIDS treatment plan which included the distribution of anti-retroviral medication (ARVs) to people living with the virus.

The common thread between the two events was the pivotal role of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), which was responsible for the 2001 demonstrations and also led a fight for access to ARVs as part of its campaign to win adequate treatment for people infected by HIV and AIDS. This second victory helped confirm TAC's iconic status internationally and at home. It and its former chair, Zackie Achmat, have received international awards and were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Besides playing a major role in prompting the corporations’ 2001 decision not to contest the case, TAC, supported by key international NGO allies and influential civil society figures, was pivotal to the campaign which forced the government's reluctant policy change. While this did not initially produce a dramatic increase in the number of South Africans receiving treatment, the number who receive free ARVs has steadily risen: by 2016, 56 per cent of the 7.1 million people living with HIV and AIDS received them, as did up to 95 per cent of pregnant women, whose medication prevented mother-to-child transmission. Millions of people are alive purely because of this shift.

TAC has played a crucial role in forcing the South African government to heed the concerns of an important constituency – people living with a deadly virus. These gains have been won not for the affluent or people who enjoy access to government – most TAC members during the campaign were unemployed black women. It has, therefore, given voice to people who would not otherwise be heard.