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Gibson Kente stuns SA with HIV revelation
Lynne Altenroxel, Adrienne Sichel and Patrick Phosa. The Star 21 February 2003. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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The disclosure by playwright Gibson Kente that he is HIV-positive could mark a turning point for the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa.
In the same way that disclosures in the 1980s by actor Rock Hudson and, in the 1990s, by basketball star Magic Johnson broke down the HIV/AIDS stigma in the United States, Kente's courage could finally bring home the reality to South Africans that the disease can hit anyone.
"It's about time that someone high profile like him came out publicly," said Pholokgolo Ramothwala, Gauteng co-ordinator of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).
"I think it will break that barrier where people think HIV is not for me, it only affects others," he said.
Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Edwin Cameron and the late singer Anneline Malebo of the trio Joy are other local public figures who previously disclosed their HIV status.
Others, such as President Thabo Mbeki's spokesperson Parks Mankahlana, soccer player Sizwe Motaung and African National Congress MP Peter Mokaba, were all rumoured to have died of HIV/AIDS-related illnesses, without going public. Mokaba repeatedly denied he had the disease.
On Thursday, Justice Cameron and other HIV-positive people praised Kente. "I applaud the decision of this acclaimed South African to state his HIV status publicly," said the judge.
TAC leader Zackie Achmat, who has refused to take anti-retroviral drugs until the poor have access to them, said: "I think it's a very brave thing to do. It's also the right thing to do. We salute his courage."
Gail Johnson, whose foster son, the late Nkosi Johnson, was open about his status, said South Africa needed role-models like Kente to show that HIV could affect anyone. "It's stunning that he has come forward and had that courage," Johnson said.
Although 4,7-million South Africans are believed to be infected with the virus, most of them are unaware that they are HIV-positive and very few of those who do know are open about their status.
One of the first South Africans who announced that she was HIV-positive, Gugu Dlamini, was stoned to death.
Kente was surrounded by a phalanx of legends at the announcement at the Laager Theatre in Newtown on Thursday. Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Sibongile Khumalo, Sophie Mgcina, Joe Mafela and Sam Mangwane rallied around him.
Kente - known affectionately as Bra Gib - who decided unprompted to go public on his status, said: "I want to say to you that you have come to save Bra Gib, not to bury him.
"My HIV status is going to let me live longer than I would have lived normally because I know I've got a challenge; because I know I have a duty to the people out there to inspire them that 'Folks, the fight is on!' Let's hold hands. Let's not hide.
"Basically I am saying 'trust me to be strong'. In December I was finished, I could not walk. Thank you very much, I can feel the love."
TV and theatre producer and playwright Duma Ka Ndlovu called on theatre legend John Kani, singer Mara Louw and Johannesburg's arts and culture director Maishe Maponya to help Kente financially.
They have set up the Gibson Kente Foundation, which aims to preserve his house as a heritage site, create an event to honour Kente, publish his plays and record a CD of his music.
Kente is the doyen of black theatre, and his name is uttered in the same breath as that of theatre icon Athol Fugard.
His first production, Manana The Jazz Prophet, was arguably the first all-black play to become a hit. The masterpiece was crafted, directed, produced and scored by a black playwright, and it used an all-black cast who dramatised their own experiences in terms of the developing urban black aesthetic.
To this day, Kente's signature choreography - dance and facial expression - is still noticeable in almost everything that can be labelled a "black" production in the South African world of drama.
He unearthed talents such as Mbongeni Ngema, Mara Louw and songbird Brenda Fassie. He's larger than life, and it's not too late to declare him a national monument.
Nelson Mandela's personal assistant, Zelda la Grange, said on Thursday night that Mandela "applauds Gibson for having the courage to reveal his HIV status" and planned to offer the playwright his support.
"People should not feel that they will be discriminated against when they reveal their status. He (Kente) will enjoy the love and embrace of his community, family and friends. We will definitely need people like Gibson to come out and speak about the pandemic," Mandela said. |
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