Issued by: Office of the Deputy President
Benoni 1 October 1999
The Chairperson, Professor D. Ncayiyani
The Minister of Education, Prof K. Asmal
Minister of Health, Ms M. Tshabalala-Msimang
Professors from tertiary institutions present today,
Student Representatives,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are gathered here this morning to discuss and share ideas on possibly the greatest threat that we have ever been faced with. Never before in the history of our country have we ever been faced with a potential disaster of this magnitude. HIV/AIDS is to me a problem that requires of all of us a total dedication to its eradication if we are to survive as a nation into the next century and beyond.
The implications that it has for all sectors of our society, be it our economy, education policy, foreign relations, or just basic family life do not alow us to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that it is somebody else's problem anymore. The sad fact that our youth are amongst the most affected groups makes it all the more imperative that we rise up as communities ad as a nation and take up arms to fight this scourge.
Ladies and gentlemen these are not normal times. There is a new war raging against te African continent and the world. War brings death and devastation - so too does HIV/AIDS. We all need to take up arms and fight against this epidemic. In times of war, societies employ extraordinary measures to ensure their survival. The onslaught that has been brought about by HIV/AIDS requires men and women and particularly young people to be vigilant lest they be caught sleeping.
Only one decade ago, AIDS war virtually unknown in our country. Today, no nation on earth can escape its consequences. The world health organisation estimated that by the year 2000, an estimated 30-40 million men, women and children will have been infected with HIV.
Today, of the 33,4 million people who live with HIV or AIDS, a third are young people betwee the ages of 15 - 24 years. World-wide, every day, 7000 young people acquire the virus, which acounts for at least 50% of all those who become infected. There is no cure for AIDS, and no vaccine to prevent it.
This does not mean, however, that people, especially young people with HIV or AIDS should be neglected by the health services, rejected by their families and friends, and abandoned by society. In our country the figures have put the number of people affected by HIV/AIDS as high as 30% in some Provinces. Sadly a significant percentage of these estimates refers to the young en and women in our institutions of higher learing.
The implications that this has for us as a nation are far reaching and require a whole new way of doing things. A new activism is required of our young people and society in general. In the same way that the people of South Africa, and particularly the youth, declared war against the abomination that was apartheid - that brought devastation to so many of our communities - we need to rise in unison against HIV/AIDS. Many of our young people in institutions of higher learing were at the forefront of the struggle for liberation.
The challenge to the youth of the 90's is how best they can take up this fight and make it their own, for in that way wil it become a reality to the rest of their peers.
We need young men and women to take the fight to their communities. I believe that the time has now come for us to shift gears from the awareness campaign to action. Distributing condoms and running awareness campaigns no doubt has an important role to play. However, unless the youth themselves acknowledge that there is a problem and take action to protect themselves, our country will steadily see itself robbed of future professionals and leaders.
Universities and Technikons have a role to play in ensuring that they produce graduates who will take the baton in leading our country in the next century. The African century that we all speak of can only be but a dream if our young people allow themselves to fall victim to this killer. I believe that they ought to be the primary target of our campaigns. New student intakes should be put through intensive AIDS education as part of the orientation programmes at universities and technikons. Existing programmes need to be modified. There is an urgent need for a shift in their focus towards ensuring that the often innocent, and therefore, vulnerable young women, are not left at the mercy of older men.
Let us leave this conference with a new vigour and a new sense of purpose to attack this epidemic in our institutions and our country.
Let us ensure that the graduates that we produce are fully equipped to take their place in the African century and are able to look fearlessly into the future in the full knowledge that the legacy that we will leave for them will be truly theirs.
As a people we need to rediscover ourselves in an effort to restore our customs and moral values that, in the past, ensured high levels of morals were upheld in our communities. Old African customs, often shunned by many as backward and intrusive can go a long way to restore pride in our young people and our nation. Sadly our apartheid past saw all these practices eradicated and condemned as heathen.
The custom of "ukuhlolwa kwezintombi", now revived in many villages of KwaZulu Natal, while ensuring the "purity" of our young people, has the potential to be a vital tool for the arrest of the spread of HIV/AIDS in those communities. I am told that young boys in those communities have shown a keen interest in the practice.
There are reports in the media of older men who engage in secual relations with them under the false myth that this will "cleanse" them of their affliction. For it is true that so much of the violence that we witness today against women and children is often a direct result of these misconceptions.
I call on parents to be more involved in the lives of their children at tertiary institutions. I believe that the sudden absence, at universities and technikons, of any ofrm of parental intervention often leaves a gap in the lives of our youth. This is potentialy dangerous to them and to the future of our nation. I say this because of the reported, successful restoration of order at the University of Durban Westville that came about partly as a result of parental involvement when that institution was under siege in 1998. This should motivate parents of children in other tertiary institutions to become more involved in the lives of their children.
The academic fraternity, while playing a critical role in providing statistics and keeping track of trends in the spread of HIV/AIDS, needs now to be in the forefront in the fight to arrest its spread. From this conference therefore, should flow new ideas and new strategies. It is not enough for us to meet, discuss and go away satisfied that we have been seen to be doing something.
The increasing incidence of HIv and AIDS among young people and teenage pregrancy figures, as well as the fact that 43% of the population in South Africa are below the age of 20, justify education from an early age. It is of the utmost importance that every young person should receive education that will enable them to adopt and maintain healthy behaviour patterns that eliminate the risk of unwanted pregnancies, abuse and sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS.
Our young people at tertiary institutions would do well to follow the example of these young people ad preserve themselves - and thus their futures. Indeed the scourge facing our country calls on all of them (male and female) to take their place in society, as people held in high esteem, to serve as role models. If our youth's apparent apathy persists, society will never be able to forgive them for their apparent lack of leadership in the struggle against AIDS. There is a moral call for them to come out in great numbers like the students of the 70's and 80's and to lead the country to freedom from the enemy that is AIDS.
Thank you