Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s Online Letter
Dear friends and fellow South Africans,
Each morning as I prepare for work, I attach a red ribbon to my lapel.
Today many people across the world will perform this small act in support of World Aids Day. But for me, it is an every day habit.
I wear a red ribbon in memory of my children, Prince Nelisuzulu Benedict Buthelezi and Princess Mandisi Sibukakonke Buthelezi, who both died in 2004 after battling the Human Immunodeficiency Virus for some time.
When my son died on the 24th of April 2004, I became one of the millions of fathers who, over three decades, have lost children to HIV/Aids. I knew I could not maintain the cultural practice of staying silent about the cause of Nelisuzulu’s death.
My background, culture and position made it somehow socially inappropriate for me to speak publically about the intimate matter of sex. But my conscience instructed me otherwise, and I have always been a man who heeds his conscience. I do this so that I can accept full responsibility for my actions and know that whatever I do, I do believing it is right.
So I spoke at Nelisuzulu’s funeral, and four months later at Mandisi’s funeral, openly declaiming the tragedy of HIV/Aids. This small act opened the way for other leaders to begin to speak. Shortly after Nelisuzulu’s death, President Nelson Mandela lost a grandson to HIV/Aids, and he too spoke openly about it.
I was gratified to see leaders begin to speak about HIV/Aids, its causes, its consequences and how we could stop it. When I spoke out in 2004, it was not the first time I had spoken about the disease. Indeed, I had already been a champion in the fight against HIV/Aids for more than a decade. But when I spoke about how the pandemic had become real for me, how it had touched my life and changed my family, my message was suddenly magnified.
People understood that if Mangosuthu Buthelezi could admit his child had died of Aids, they could admit it too. And if it was alright to speak about Aids, maybe it was alright to get tested, ask for help and assist those who are HIV positive.
I do not claim that my small act changed the course of the HIV/Aids pandemic in South Africa. But I do know that it saved lives. Just as my action in KwaZulu Natal saved lives, when I tasked the then Premier Dr LPHM Mtshali with providing antiretrovirals to clinics throughout the province to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/Aids.
The saga of what the IFP did in KwaZulu Natal, to force the national Government to perform its constitutional obligation of saving lives, is documented and need not be retold. It was simply a handful of people acting on their conscience and getting big results.
This week the media highlighted a case in which people not acting on their conscience will also have big results. Several of the donors who promised funds to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria have reneged on their commitment and are refusing to release funding. Others are scaling back on their commitment. As a result, the Global Fund is in financial crisis.
More than seven million lives have been saved in the first decade of the Global Fund’s operation. Right now, it funds half the antiretroviral treatments being administered worldwide. But for the first time in its history, the Fund has had to cancel an entire round of funding, placing in jeopardy the fight against HIV/Aids in the developing countries of Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the world’s hotspot for the pandemic. The fight here is tougher and more critical than anywhere else. Like Swaziland, Lesotho and Zambia, South Africa cannot afford funding cuts to HIV/Aids programmes. The increase last year in HIV prevalence among pregnant women should be a warning bell, telling us that more must be done.
I therefore call on international donors to honour their commitments. I call on Africa’s leaders to accept the responsibility to speak about HIV/Aids.
And I call on South Africans to heed their conscience whenever they see a red ribbon. Let the sight of the red ribbon prompt us to ask ourselves whether we are being faithful, responsible and honest in all our intimate relationships.
I hope that when people see the red ribbon they are challenged in their conscience and inspired in their commitment. With that hope, as I prepare for work each morning, I will attach a red ribbon to my lapel.
Yours in the service of the nation,
Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP
Contact:
Ms Liezl van der Merwe
Press Officer to Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP
082 729 2510
