The stereotypes and myths about being doomed to death if you have HIV ended when people like Justice Edwin Cameron emerged. He is a witness to Aids and has testified in his book titled Edwin Cameron: Witness to AIDS. He has been lauded by the likes of Nelson Mandela as a South African hero.
Justice Cameron's book validates my own passion about HIV/Aids. It gives deeper understanding and the impact it makes. He highlights his own personal experience with the deadly virus. It sobers you up and brings you to realise that HIV and Aids are a reality, especially for many hundreds and thousands of Africans. It is also not debated enough or fairly. That's why we have a president who is not positive about HIV. That's why we have a health ministry that is in shambles to say the least. There is an injustice against people who are affected and infected with HIV.
People had to protests for the correctional services of this country to start rolling medication for inmates who were already dying from this deadly pandemic. There are too many broken HIV promises by the government. This government adopted a constructive HIV/Aids programme, praised by UNaids, way too late. While lobby groups were advocating for better care for HIV/Aids sufferers, many many people died. Many still die, because government starts treating people in their last days. I don't know this from the media, but I know because I have friends and relatives who died from Aids.
It was only in 2002 when Mbeki was persuaded by fellow comrades to back down from the Aids debate. Mbeki inherited the name of an Aids dissident. I hear there is book coming out by Mark Gevisser, giving the details of Mbeki's views on Aids.
Although I still believe that there's a few South Africans who have access to Justice Cameron, the few who know about him can consider themselves privileged.
If you live in a country that has people who will have you dead, as soon as you reveal that you are HIV positive, then government should have detected that we have a problem, in 1998. A Durban woman was brutally murdered after revealing her status in the media. One human life, is just one too many! From where I'm standing government plays a role in building barriers of hatred and ignorance. Picture courtesy of BBCnews.com
