Struggles and Tests - Zackie Achmat's experience of living with HIV
Source: Judith King, HIVAN Media team
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Zachie Achmat says the HIV/AIDS epidemic is as a "test of governance".
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The phrase "being tested" would best sum up the themes of prominent social activist Zackie Achmat's guest lecture to the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Forum event, hosted on its Durban campus on the 9th May 2002.
Following a powerful performance by Umlazi's Kwa Mgaga's school choir of a song they composed as a prayer for doctors to find a cure for AIDS, Achmat addressed a full lecture venue during UND's AIDS Action Week. His natural warmth and frankness ensured an immediate connection with his largely student audience. "I'm studying for a Masters' degree in Law this year," he said, "so that should tell you that even though I'm HIV-positive, I believe I'm going to live for a long time!"
Achmat's credentials as an activist derive not only from his opposition to the apartheid regime, which resulted in numerous spells of detention and imprisonment, but also from his role in ensuring the entrenchment of gay and lesbian equality as one of the rights guaranteed in South Africa's post-apartheid Constitution. His current profile as a leading figure in the Treatment Action Campaign is as much an enactment of his commitment to poverty reduction as it is a struggle for equal access to anti-AIDS medication. A loyal member of the ANC/SACP, he defines his allegiances as being morally directed to the people: "& people before politics, people before profits &".
He framed the contemporary struggle against HIV/AIDS as one pitched at various levels, but primarily as 'a test of morality': "This is not necessarily only about sex or promiscuity, or even the moral regeneration movement," he explained, "but rather about relationships between people, especially between men and women, and the honesty and respect we have for ourselves and for each other. It's about asking whether we are protecting ourselves and those with whom we are involved."
"We all need to be thinking about living conditions within our society," he said. "There is a prevailing attitude that places the burden of responsibility for the spread of HIV infection on the shoulders of single women - but what about the millions of single mothers who struggle every day to survive, despite their poverty and hunger?"
Speaking of his own experience of the disease, Achmat describes himself as privileged, in that he feels "& very supported, being able to eat well, having wonderful friends and one family member who still speaks to me since I disclosed my status. Luckily I never smoked and only drank alcohol once - a full bottle of whisky when the Berlin Wall came down - but that's another story!"
Achmat went on to illustrate the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a "test of governance", both of the self and of national and corporate interests. As for the TAC stance against the government's policies regarding access to anti-retroviral drugs, and against multinational pharmaceutical companies profiteering while millions continue to succumb to AIDS, he said that the Campaign's aim is not to overthrow the government, but rather to hold them accountable for providing an equitable national policy so that South African citizens can enjoy safe medication, a healthy population and a healthy economy. "We welcome the government's U-turn on the Nevirapine issue - although it was very sudden - but there are still denialists in Cabinet and within the Medicines Control Council who will try to block access to free or cheap treatment. Other governments are also not committing enough funding towards helping the Third World, even though our needs would hardly make a dent in their budgets."
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Umlazi's Kwa Mgaga's school choir opened the Forum Lecture with a song they composed as a prayer for doctors to find a cure for AIDS
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Achmat honoured Professors Jerry Coovadia and Malegapuru William Makgoba as well as COSATU's Willie Madisha as heroes whose integrity as caring individuals has been tested through the HIV/AIDS crisis. He urged the audience to consider their own obligations in this regard. "There is great work being done at this University, for example on infant feeding options for HIV-positive mothers, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, new test methods for viral load and on vaccines," he said, "and we all have a duty to become scientifically literate about the disease. Every one of us should know what a CD4 count is and know our own status."
In closing, Achmat endorsed the University's provision of support services for those infected and affected by the epidemic, and urged all present to join the battle against the spread of the virus. "This struggle is only just beginning," he said, "and we must strive for the overall health of our nation. We must fight to protect openness and living positively, so as to make it safe for people to declare their HIV status. We need all our leaders and celebrities to play a role in making HIV-testing more visible, to talk about AIDS and to dispel fear. There is no cure for AIDS yet, but the disease can be managed as long as you know your status. Get tested - don't die lonely, without the help that is there for you."
The University's AIDS Working Group is grateful for the generous sponsorship of KPMG for the production of NU's "United Against HIV/AIDS" T-shirts and to Price Waterhouse Coopers for funding the Residence HIV/AIDS Outreach Programme.
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