Date: 01/12/2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Molewa: Provincial World AIDS Day commemoration
Address by the Honourable Mme Bomo Edna Molewa, Premier of the North West Province, at the 2004 Provincial World AIDS Day commemoration, Mmabatho
Director of Ceremonies, The Beautiful People of the North West Province, Comrades, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
We meet on a day when the world, united in its common humanity, stands together in its commitment to fight the common enemy, HIV/AIDS. The biggest threat to the world, Comrades, is not terrorism as we are sometimes told, but HIV/AIDS. It is a threat even to those who call others terrorists and to those, themselves, who are called terrorists by their enemies.
Let us begin by remembering our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives to the violence of HIV/AIDS. Let us pledge to honour their memories by continuing our brave struggle against this disease.
In continuing our struggle, it might help to stop for a moment, look back and think about the days of our heroic struggle against apartheid when, according to our poet, Sipho Sepamla, our townships were turned into burial grounds by the violence of apartheid. He says this in a poem called "Soweto" and he says it like this:
you have been a huge quiet cemetery
where many have been buried by day
resurrected by night
to make calls at night-vigils
of mothers you have made widows
who had to gird loins
to take on men's tasks
you have made of mourning
a way of life
the flowers that adorn your face
were born by mothers in grief
Comrades, that poem show our people dying but never surrendering to apartheid. The poem might not show this, but ultimately, united in a mass movement of people, young and old, black and white, male and female, rural and urban, educated and uneducated, professional and ordinary worker * together we managed to break the back of apartheid.
We are now faced with a new enemy, a new challenge * the challenge of HIV/AIDS. It is an enemy far more formidable than apartheid at its best. It is an enemy far more powerful than the former SADF and all its weapons, all its bombs, and all its guns. It is an enemy that is everywhere in our land. It is in our houses, it is in our churches, it is in our schools and it is in our workplaces. We cannot hide from it.
Just, however, as we managed to dig deep into our resilience, our strength, our will, our determination, our commitment, our discipline and our hope we must, even with this enemy, dig deep into that strong belief in ourselves and in our will to win.
We always knew that we could defeat apartheid because it was an evil and immoral system which divided and harmed and killed people. HIV/AIDS may not be the same as apartheid in its manifestation, but it is equally unacceptable and unwelcome. It is equally damaging and destructive.
We should therefore fight it with the same commitment and energy. We must overcome it with the same seriousness and single-mindedness, focusing and concentrating on it so that we can succeed.
It is said that HIV/AIDS cannot be cured. Fortunately, however, HIV infection can be stopped. Can you imagine what the world would be like if HIV infection could not be stopped altogether? It would be the end of the world.
Comrades, what I am saying is that we should not focus on the fact that HIV/AIDS cannot be cured but rather on the fact that it can be stopped from infecting those who are not yet infected.
Why? I ask, can't we stop this killer when we actually have the capacity, right in our hands, to stop it? Why should we have new infections when we are made aware about how to stop ourselves from being infected? Why can't we stop it when we are informed about how we can stop it from infecting us? Why can't we stop it when we are educated about how we can stop it from infecting us?
Why can't we stop it when we are provided with condoms to protect ourselves and our partners from getting infected? Why can't we stop it when we are provided with facilities to go and get tested so that if we are positive we can then take the necessary precautions not to infect others and to look after ourselves?
It all has to do with discipline and commitment. You will remember that during the time of our struggle we practised collective discipline. That is where expressions such as "Mayihlale phans' ibamb' umthetho" and "Idolo phezulu Comrade" were born. Those expressions were taken as instructions by our people for maximum collective discipline so that we could achieve our objectives of moving together, united as one, in pursuit of our goal for freedom and liberation.
Remember, Comrades, remember our famous and spine-chilling song:
Unzima lomthwalo,
Ufuna sibambane
Asikhathali noma siboshwa,
Sizimisel' inkululeko.
With HIV/AIDS, too, Comrades, we need that old time spirit of oneness and unity and collective discipline, taking instructions from our leaders about standing together in the face of this challenge, and so I say to you today Comrades, "Mayihlale phans'ibamb' umthetho". I say to you comrades, "Idolo phezulu" as we toyi-toyi against this scourge, this epidemic. I say to you "Unzima lomthwalo, ufuna sibambane."
Our theme this year, in our commemoration of World AIDS Day with the rest of the world, is unity in protecting women and children from HIV/AIDS. Our call is "Khomanani", hold hands, in caring for women and children. It is said that women constitute half of all people living with HIV/AIDS. Think of the role of women in society and this will show that societies are seriously destabilised by the devastation of women by HIV/AIDS.
Families, especially in times when members need all the comfort, peace and support they can get, often rely on women to ensure that they cope with the tragedy of HIV/AIDS. If it is the women themselves dying, what hope is there for those who need their tender care?
We see, as well, the rate of infection increasing among young people. Among these it is girl children, in particular, who are worst hit. These children, because they are children, are helpless and theirs is a painful form of suffering and it is a blemish on us as society. Oliver Tambo once said a nation which does not care for its children has no future.
We focus on the women because they are often disempowered to exercise their democratic and constitutional right to co-decide on matters related to sex in partnerships. As a result in those cases where their partners are involved in reckless sexual behaviour it is the women who are often exposed to risk. We should all, male and female, say no to this; it must stop.
Women are our mothers and daughters. They deserve better. They are our aunts and nieces. They need us. Their lives are no less valuable than ours. Their welfare is no less important than ours.
Our history, culture and traditions as Africans show a remarkable respect for women as givers of life and nurturers of children. Credo Mutwa, our preeminent Isanuse and Inyanga, and our African historiographer, Adv. Mathole Motshekga, will attest to this. Let us revive that spirit of respect for the mother of the nation, the garden of humanity, the woman.
Likewise with our children, especially girl children. They, too, require that we do not expose them to sexual abuse and sexually transmitted diseases. We need to finally, once and for all, eliminate the myth and misconception, the big lie that if an HIV positive person sleeps with a young child the virus will be destroyed. It is a dangerous lie and it can lead to the murder of the innocent.
Children are our most precious resource. They are the gold and diamonds of our life. They are the silver and the platinum of our existence. Without them our existence as a nation is shortened.
The worst form of brutality is one where those who are physically stronger than others use their strength to oppress and abuse the others. The worst kind of animal is one which savagely attacks weak and helpless ones. It can only be a beast which attacks innocent children.
We waged our freedom struggle partly to ensure that the flag of women's and children's rights would fly high in every corner of South Africa. Exposing women and children to HIV/AIDS is to violate their rights and to sentence them to death for the simple reason that they happen not to be men but women and children.
When Josina Machel, the first wife of Samora Machel, the late great revolutionary leader and President of Mozambique died, her husband said:
My joy is that as patriot and woman you died doubly free in this time when the new power and the new woman are emerging.
Comrades, in our country, too, the new woman is emerging. Government, through legislation, has ensured that, but some among our men are still trapped in the power of their gender, and they are suppressing the birth of this new woman. Through reckless sexual behaviour and silencing women on sexual expression, they block the birth of the new woman by killing off our mothers and sisters with HIV/AIDS.
The new woman will be fully born when we create employment opportunities for women. She will be completely born when we alleviate poverty and she is no longer forced to depend upon a man for her sustenance, support and survival. The new woman will be born when those among our women who are sexual and economic slaves of men are liberated.
Let us together, as a nation of men and women, give birth to the new woman by today taking a stand and saying we shall not keep quiet when we see our women and mothers and sisters recklessly and maliciously exposed to HIV/AIDS.
Let us speak out against celebrities who set dangerous examples, though risky behaviour, for our society. Let us speak out against media portrayal of women as objects to be exposed to the risk of infection through their being passed from one male character to another, in soapies, until there aren't any more male characters they can be prostituted to.
Our organizations active in the area of ending the abuse of women need to be seen to be raising concerns and complaints about some of the ways in which women are reduced to sexual pawns. It is a dangerous phenomenon which indirectly fuels some of the disrespect which some men demonstrate towards women, disrespect which in some cases leads to the exposure of women to sexually transmitted infections and, in worse situations, HIV/AIDS.
Our statutory HIV/AIDS-fighting force, the Provincial Council on AIDS (PCA), will hopefully extend its focus to some of these less obvious causes of the ongoing increase in the number of women infected by HIV/AIDS.
It will also continue the battle against the stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS. We have to make our people feel free to proclaim their HIV positive status, knowing that they will receive our support instead of rejection.
The PCA, launched in 2000, has been faced with challenges not only of delivering on its mandate against HIV/AIDS, but also some resource constraints and inadequate cooperation from and commitment by some stakeholders. Despite that, the Department of Health, to which the PCA is linked, has made admirable efforts and strides in making the organization what it is today. The PCA itself has risen above the challenges and is progressively becoming a well-oiled machine to lead the charge against HIV/AIDS. We are grateful to both the Department of Health and the PCA.
We call upon all the stakeholders, including government departments, to provide the PCA with all the support and cooperation it requires. HIV/AIDS is not the challenge of the PCA alone. It is our collective challenge. It is not the business of the PCA alone. It is our collective business. The PCA is merely a coordinating body so that there is integration and an organized form of leadership in the provincial war against HIV/AIDS. Its role is also one of monitoring and evaluation, and in this respect it is meant to assist government departments and other state entities, to actively and visibly fight HIV/AIDS.
In stadiums and sports events we stand up and wave as one, and together sing Shosholoza as we edge our local or national teams on. It is time to wave as one and sing Shosholoza again, only this time as a united force against HIV/AIDS.
Let the faith-based organizations rise up and light the candle of prayer for the infected and the affected. Let businesses support the battle in material terms of money and care and support for employees. Let workers make HIV/AIDS a public topic so that each one may teach one. Let the media be blunt about the dangers we face and the gains we are making. Let schools and universities and research institutions teach and teach and teach about HIV/AIDS until the need for the teaching subsides. Let us all rise in a movement of the committed against this most dangerous of all challenges we have ever faced as a nation.
In unity there is strength. In strength there is power. In power there is force. In force there is movement. In movement there is achievement. In achievement there is success. In our success against HIV/AIDS there is life and a future of prosperity for our Province and nation.
Forward with the struggle against HIV/AIDS forward! Forward with the protection of women and children against HIV/AIDS forward! Forward with the work of the Provincial Council on AIDS Forward!
Amandla! Amandla!
I thank you all.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
1 December 2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Molewa: Provincial World AIDS Day commemoration
Address by the Honourable Mme Bomo Edna Molewa, Premier of the North West Province, at the 2004 Provincial World AIDS Day commemoration, Mmabatho
Director of Ceremonies, The Beautiful People of the North West Province, Comrades, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
We meet on a day when the world, united in its common humanity, stands together in its commitment to fight the common enemy, HIV/AIDS. The biggest threat to the world, Comrades, is not terrorism as we are sometimes told, but HIV/AIDS. It is a threat even to those who call others terrorists and to those, themselves, who are called terrorists by their enemies.
Let us begin by remembering our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives to the violence of HIV/AIDS. Let us pledge to honour their memories by continuing our brave struggle against this disease.
In continuing our struggle, it might help to stop for a moment, look back and think about the days of our heroic struggle against apartheid when, according to our poet, Sipho Sepamla, our townships were turned into burial grounds by the violence of apartheid. He says this in a poem called "Soweto" and he says it like this:
you have been a huge quiet cemetery
where many have been buried by day
resurrected by night
to make calls at night-vigils
of mothers you have made widows
who had to gird loins
to take on men's tasks
you have made of mourning
a way of life
the flowers that adorn your face
were born by mothers in grief
Comrades, that poem show our people dying but never surrendering to apartheid. The poem might not show this, but ultimately, united in a mass movement of people, young and old, black and white, male and female, rural and urban, educated and uneducated, professional and ordinary worker * together we managed to break the back of apartheid.
We are now faced with a new enemy, a new challenge * the challenge of HIV/AIDS. It is an enemy far more formidable than apartheid at its best. It is an enemy far more powerful than the former SADF and all its weapons, all its bombs, and all its guns. It is an enemy that is everywhere in our land. It is in our houses, it is in our churches, it is in our schools and it is in our workplaces. We cannot hide from it.
Just, however, as we managed to dig deep into our resilience, our strength, our will, our determination, our commitment, our discipline and our hope we must, even with this enemy, dig deep into that strong belief in ourselves and in our will to win.
We always knew that we could defeat apartheid because it was an evil and immoral system which divided and harmed and killed people. HIV/AIDS may not be the same as apartheid in its manifestation, but it is equally unacceptable and unwelcome. It is equally damaging and destructive.
We should therefore fight it with the same commitment and energy. We must overcome it with the same seriousness and single-mindedness, focusing and concentrating on it so that we can succeed.
It is said that HIV/AIDS cannot be cured. Fortunately, however, HIV infection can be stopped. Can you imagine what the world would be like if HIV infection could not be stopped altogether? It would be the end of the world.
Comrades, what I am saying is that we should not focus on the fact that HIV/AIDS cannot be cured but rather on the fact that it can be stopped from infecting those who are not yet infected.
Why? I ask, can't we stop this killer when we actually have the capacity, right in our hands, to stop it? Why should we have new infections when we are made aware about how to stop ourselves from being infected? Why can't we stop it when we are informed about how we can stop it from infecting us? Why can't we stop it when we are educated about how we can stop it from infecting us?
Why can't we stop it when we are provided with condoms to protect ourselves and our partners from getting infected? Why can't we stop it when we are provided with facilities to go and get tested so that if we are positive we can then take the necessary precautions not to infect others and to look after ourselves?
It all has to do with discipline and commitment. You will remember that during the time of our struggle we practised collective discipline. That is where expressions such as "Mayihlale phans' ibamb' umthetho" and "Idolo phezulu Comrade" were born. Those expressions were taken as instructions by our people for maximum collective discipline so that we could achieve our objectives of moving together, united as one, in pursuit of our goal for freedom and liberation.
Remember, Comrades, remember our famous and spine-chilling song:
Unzima lomthwalo,
Ufuna sibambane
Asikhathali noma siboshwa,
Sizimisel' inkululeko.
With HIV/AIDS, too, Comrades, we need that old time spirit of oneness and unity and collective discipline, taking instructions from our leaders about standing together in the face of this challenge, and so I say to you today Comrades, "Mayihlale phans'ibamb' umthetho". I say to you comrades, "Idolo phezulu" as we toyi-toyi against this scourge, this epidemic. I say to you "Unzima lomthwalo, ufuna sibambane."
Our theme this year, in our commemoration of World AIDS Day with the rest of the world, is unity in protecting women and children from HIV/AIDS. Our call is "Khomanani", hold hands, in caring for women and children. It is said that women constitute half of all people living with HIV/AIDS. Think of the role of women in society and this will show that societies are seriously destabilised by the devastation of women by HIV/AIDS.
Families, especially in times when members need all the comfort, peace and support they can get, often rely on women to ensure that they cope with the tragedy of HIV/AIDS. If it is the women themselves dying, what hope is there for those who need their tender care?
We see, as well, the rate of infection increasing among young people. Among these it is girl children, in particular, who are worst hit. These children, because they are children, are helpless and theirs is a painful form of suffering and it is a blemish on us as society. Oliver Tambo once said a nation which does not care for its children has no future.
We focus on the women because they are often disempowered to exercise their democratic and constitutional right to co-decide on matters related to sex in partnerships. As a result in those cases where their partners are involved in reckless sexual behaviour it is the women who are often exposed to risk. We should all, male and female, say no to this; it must stop.
Women are our mothers and daughters. They deserve better. They are our aunts and nieces. They need us. Their lives are no less valuable than ours. Their welfare is no less important than ours.
Our history, culture and traditions as Africans show a remarkable respect for women as givers of life and nurturers of children. Credo Mutwa, our preeminent Isanuse and Inyanga, and our African historiographer, Adv. Mathole Motshekga, will attest to this. Let us revive that spirit of respect for the mother of the nation, the garden of humanity, the woman.
Likewise with our children, especially girl children. They, too, require that we do not expose them to sexual abuse and sexually transmitted diseases. We need to finally, once and for all, eliminate the myth and misconception, the big lie that if an HIV positive person sleeps with a young child the virus will be destroyed. It is a dangerous lie and it can lead to the murder of the innocent.
Children are our most precious resource. They are the gold and diamonds of our life. They are the silver and the platinum of our existence. Without them our existence as a nation is shortened.
The worst form of brutality is one where those who are physically stronger than others use their strength to oppress and abuse the others. The worst kind of animal is one which savagely attacks weak and helpless ones. It can only be a beast which attacks innocent children.
We waged our freedom struggle partly to ensure that the flag of women's and children's rights would fly high in every corner of South Africa. Exposing women and children to HIV/AIDS is to violate their rights and to sentence them to death for the simple reason that they happen not to be men but women and children.
When Josina Machel, the first wife of Samora Machel, the late great revolutionary leader and President of Mozambique died, her husband said:
My joy is that as patriot and woman you died doubly free in this time when the new power and the new woman are emerging.
Comrades, in our country, too, the new woman is emerging. Government, through legislation, has ensured that, but some among our men are still trapped in the power of their gender, and they are suppressing the birth of this new woman. Through reckless sexual behaviour and silencing women on sexual expression, they block the birth of the new woman by killing off our mothers and sisters with HIV/AIDS.
The new woman will be fully born when we create employment opportunities for women. She will be completely born when we alleviate poverty and she is no longer forced to depend upon a man for her sustenance, support and survival. The new woman will be born when those among our women who are sexual and economic slaves of men are liberated.
Let us together, as a nation of men and women, give birth to the new woman by today taking a stand and saying we shall not keep quiet when we see our women and mothers and sisters recklessly and maliciously exposed to HIV/AIDS.
Let us speak out against celebrities who set dangerous examples, though risky behaviour, for our society. Let us speak out against media portrayal of women as objects to be exposed to the risk of infection through their being passed from one male character to another, in soapies, until there aren't any more male characters they can be prostituted to.
Our organizations active in the area of ending the abuse of women need to be seen to be raising concerns and complaints about some of the ways in which women are reduced to sexual pawns. It is a dangerous phenomenon which indirectly fuels some of the disrespect which some men demonstrate towards women, disrespect which in some cases leads to the exposure of women to sexually transmitted infections and, in worse situations, HIV/AIDS.
Our statutory HIV/AIDS-fighting force, the Provincial Council on AIDS (PCA), will hopefully extend its focus to some of these less obvious causes of the ongoing increase in the number of women infected by HIV/AIDS.
It will also continue the battle against the stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS. We have to make our people feel free to proclaim their HIV positive status, knowing that they will receive our support instead of rejection.
The PCA, launched in 2000, has been faced with challenges not only of delivering on its mandate against HIV/AIDS, but also some resource constraints and inadequate cooperation from and commitment by some stakeholders. Despite that, the Department of Health, to which the PCA is linked, has made admirable efforts and strides in making the organization what it is today. The PCA itself has risen above the challenges and is progressively becoming a well-oiled machine to lead the charge against HIV/AIDS. We are grateful to both the Department of Health and the PCA.
We call upon all the stakeholders, including government departments, to provide the PCA with all the support and cooperation it requires. HIV/AIDS is not the challenge of the PCA alone. It is our collective challenge. It is not the business of the PCA alone. It is our collective business. The PCA is merely a coordinating body so that there is integration and an organized form of leadership in the provincial war against HIV/AIDS. Its role is also one of monitoring and evaluation, and in this respect it is meant to assist government departments and other state entities, to actively and visibly fight HIV/AIDS.
In stadiums and sports events we stand up and wave as one, and together sing Shosholoza as we edge our local or national teams on. It is time to wave as one and sing Shosholoza again, only this time as a united force against HIV/AIDS.
Let the faith-based organizations rise up and light the candle of prayer for the infected and the affected. Let businesses support the battle in material terms of money and care and support for employees. Let workers make HIV/AIDS a public topic so that each one may teach one. Let the media be blunt about the dangers we face and the gains we are making. Let schools and universities and research institutions teach and teach and teach about HIV/AIDS until the need for the teaching subsides. Let us all rise in a movement of the committed against this most dangerous of all challenges we have ever faced as a nation.
In unity there is strength. In strength there is power. In power there is force. In force there is movement. In movement there is achievement. In achievement there is success. In our success against HIV/AIDS there is life and a future of prosperity for our Province and nation.
Forward with the struggle against HIV/AIDS forward! Forward with the protection of women and children against HIV/AIDS forward! Forward with the work of the Provincial Council on AIDS Forward!
Amandla! Amandla!
I thank you all.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
1 December 2004
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