Draft:Mark Heywood
South African human rights activist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mark Heywood (born 7 June 1964)[1] is a South African social justice and human rights activist, writer, and public intellectual, known for his role in public health and constitutional litigation. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Cape Town's Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance.[2]
| Submission rejected on 3 January 2026 by Vestrian24Bio (talk). The subject does not meet Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion. Rejected by Vestrian24Bio 2 months ago. Last edited by Vestrian24Bio 2 months ago. |  |
| Submission declined on 31 December 2025 by ChrysGalley (talk). This draft is not written from a neutral point of view. Wikipedia articles must be written neutrally in a formal, impersonal, and dispassionate way. They should not read like a blog post, advertisement, or fan page. Rewrite the draft to remove:
Declined by ChrysGalley 2 months ago.
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| Submission declined on 13 December 2025 by Htanaungg (talk). This draft is not adequately supported by reliable sources. Wikipedia's verifiability policy requires that all content be supported by reliable sources.
Declined by Htanaungg 3 months ago.
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| Submission declined on 7 December 2025 by Theroadislong (talk). This draft's references do not show that the person meets Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion for people. The draft requires multiple published secondary sources that:
Declined by Theroadislong 3 months ago.
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| Submission declined on 7 December 2025 by TheInevitables (talk). This draft appears to be generated by a large language model (such as ChatGPT). You should not use LLMs to write articles from scratch.
Declined by TheInevitables 3 months ago.LLM-generated pages with the below issues may be deleted without notice. These tools are prone to specific issues that violate our policies:
Instead, only summarize in your own words a range of independent, reliable, published sources that discuss the subject. See the advice page on large language models for more information. | |
| Submission declined on 6 December 2025 by Thilio (talk). This draft appears to be generated by a large language model (such as ChatGPT). You should not use LLMs to write articles from scratch.
Declined by Thilio 3 months ago.LLM-generated pages with the below issues may be deleted without notice. These tools are prone to specific issues that violate our policies:
Instead, only summarize in your own words a range of independent, reliable, published sources that discuss the subject. See the advice page on large language models for more information. | |
| Submission declined on 5 December 2025 by Royiswariii (talk). This draft appears to be generated by a large language model (such as ChatGPT). You should not use LLMs to write articles from scratch.
Declined by Royiswariii 3 months ago.LLM-generated pages with the below issues may be deleted without notice. These tools are prone to specific issues that violate our policies:
Instead, only summarize in your own words a range of independent, reliable, published sources that discuss the subject. See the advice page on large language models for more information. | |
| Submission declined on 4 December 2025 by Ktkvtsh (talk). This draft appears to be generated by a large language model (such as ChatGPT). You should not use LLMs to write articles from scratch.
Declined by Ktkvtsh 3 months ago.LLM-generated pages with the below issues may be deleted without notice. These tools are prone to specific issues that violate our policies:
Instead, only summarize in your own words a range of independent, reliable, published sources that discuss the subject. See the advice page on large language models for more information. | |
| Submission declined on 2 December 2025 by Pythoncoder (talk). This draft appears to be generated by a large language model (such as ChatGPT). You should not use LLMs to write articles from scratch.
Declined by Pythoncoder 3 months ago.LLM-generated pages with the below issues may be deleted without notice. These tools are prone to specific issues that violate our policies:
Instead, only summarize in your own words a range of independent, reliable, published sources that discuss the subject. See the advice page on large language models for more information. | |
Comment: Repeated submission without much improvement. Vestrian24Bio 11:30, 3 January 2026 (UTC)
- Comment: It is pointless and disruptive to re-submit with zero improvement and is likely to lead to a rejection. Theroadislong (talk) 11:14, 2 January 2026 (UTC)
- Comment: It is quite simple: to get notability the subject needs three profiles in independent newspapers. Some flexibility on this, and they don't have to be newspapers either, but key is that it is not what the subject says or writes, it is what other people say or write about the subject. Currently the sources divide into two groups - things that the subject wrote, said, was interviewed for. And a selection of human rights issues where the subject said or wrote something. This will never get notability.Generally the article is promotional, someone who has been in politics a very long time but who appears not to have had any negative reactions to their work, any mistakes or hold ups. The article is not neutral.I've not issued a "Stop" notice on a revolving door article, but here I was tempted. I would ask the submitting editor to bear that in mind, and to read through WP:BASIC very carefully, and to source independently, before having yet another go. ChrysGalley (talk) 19:33, 31 December 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: interviews and articles written by Heywood contribute nothing to any notability. Theroadislong (talk) 14:37, 31 December 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: The subject is likely to pass the notability criteria, but more significant coverage in secondary reliable sources is needed—the article currently relies too heavily on a single Daily Maverick item. Htanaungg (talk) 06:05, 13 December 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: It is pointless and disruptive to re-submit without any improvement, the vast majority of your sources are primary not secondary. Theroadislong (talk) 09:33, 7 December 2025 (UTC)
Co-founder of SECTION27
Editor of Maverick Citizen
Mark Heywood | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 June 1964 |
| Occupations | Social justice activist, writer, public intellectual |
| Known for | Co-founder of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) Co-founder of SECTION27 Editor of Maverick Citizen |
| Awards | Public Health Association of South Africa Lifetime Achievement Award (2022) |
Heywood was involved in several significant South African civil society organisations, including the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC),[3] the Aids Law Project (ALP), and its successor, SECTION27.[4] Heywood's commentary on social justice and corruption in South Africa is frequently sought by major news organisations like Al Jazeera, The Guardian and Newzroom Afrika.[5][6][7][8] His work has been cited for advancing the health rights of marginalised groups and working for improved public health in the country.[2]
Activism and career
Heywood's political activism began in the early 1980s in England when he was a member of the Militant tendency, a Trotskyist group, and continued in South Africa as a leader of the Marxist Workers Tendency of the ANC.[4]
HIV/AIDS activism
Following South Africa's democratic transition in 1994, Heywood joined the Aids Law Project (ALP) at the University of the Witwatersrand, serving as its head from 1997 to 2010.[2] He was a co-founder of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in late 1998,[3] which became one of the continent's most influential civil society organisations.[3]
The TAC's campaign utilised grassroots mobilisation and legal interventions to fight the South African government’s AIDS denialism and secure access to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).[3] This culminated in a famous Constitutional Court victory, leading to the establishment of what is widely recognised as the world's biggest HIV treatment programme.[3] Retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu stated that the citizen activism led by the TAC "restored hope and dignity" and served as a "vindication of our wonderful constitution."[3] Stephen Lewis, a former UN special envoy for Aids in Africa, praised the TAC's achievements, noting that there is "no other NGO on the African continent that can lay a claim to actually saving millions of lives."[3] Heywood and the TAC also fought against misinformation, such as the claims by German-born doctor Matthias Rath, who promoted vitamins as an alternative to ARVs.[9]
In 2010, Heywood co-founded SECTION27 to replace the ALP, continuing public interest law work.[2] He was also a founding co-editor of Maverick Citizen in 2019.[2][4][10]
Later social justice work
Heywood is also a co-founder of Corruption Watch and the social movement Save South Africa.[2]
In 2025, he was named a key facilitator and steering committee member of the newly launched Union Against Hunger (UAH), a movement dedicated to eradicating mass hunger and malnutrition in South Africa through advocacy for systemic reform and public awareness campaigns.[11][12]
Recognition
In 2022, Heywood was awarded the Public Health Association of South Africa's (PHASA) lifetime achievement award for his "remarkable contribution to public health and social justice in SA." Harsha Somaroo, President of PHASA, noted that Heywood's work "truly made an impact," highlighting that the lives of millions of South Africans had been touched by his dedication.[2]
Publications
- Heywood, Mark (2017). Get Up! Stand Up!: Personal Journeys Towards Social Justice. NB Publishers Limited. ISBN 978-0-624-08113-5.
- Heywood, Mark (2009). "South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign: Combining Law and Social Mobilization to Realize the Right to Health". Journal of Human Rights Practice. 1 (1): 14–36. doi:10.1093/jhrp/hun006.
- Heywood, Mark; Cornell, Morna (1998). "Human Rights and AIDS in South Africa: From Right Margin to Left Margin". Health and Human Rights Journal. 2 (4).
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