ABSTRACT
This chapter consider how the national discourse has both harmed and benefitted the efforts of parliament and these two departments to fulfill the constitutional mandate of access to health-care services, of which access to medicines is a fundamental part. It overviews of the regulatory framework pertaining to patents, competition, and medicines control. The chapter highlights the campaigns for, and contestations against, legislative reforms intended to secure access to medicines. Indeed, the South African government has admitted as much in the consultative framework. For instance, the CL provisions in the patents act have not resulted in the issuance of a CL. The developments in South Africa have had an effect on regional and global discourse regarding IP and access to medicines, as evidenced by the reliance on South Africa as an example of the contestation of positions which led to a favorable outcome for access to medicines in scholarly writing, and the adoption of similar human rights.
