HIV and Aids: it begins with you!

By: Darlington Majonga

Every day we are reminded of the grim reality of HIV when we see relatives, friends, neighbours and workmates succumbing to Aids-related illnesses.

Depressing statistics are always at hand to complete the picture of the crisis we are facing in our country.

More than five million South Africans are said to be living with HIV, including over 300 000 children under the age of 15.

Latest reports from the department of health indicate that the Free State province has the third highest HIV infection in the country at 35 percent, with the provincial capital Mangaung having a 31 percent rate.

KwaZulu-Natal has the highest HIV infection rate in South Africa at about 40 percent, followed by Mpumalanga at just below 40 percent.

Yet these figures are no longer shocking to the majority of South Africans.

What’s rather appalling is how these numbers have failed to jolt us into becoming a responsible people.

We were pleased to learn that leading anti-HIV and Aids group, New Start, will give couples from Mangaung Metro Municipality a chance to get tested for HIV in a week-long campaign starting today.

The campaign running until August 22 will see mobile testing units set up at the Mangaung Taxi Rank where couples can voluntarily go for counselling and testing for the Aids virus.

New Start says the exercise is aimed at encouraging couples to know their HIV status and to be open to each other about their health concerns in order to lead healthy lives.

We can only applaud this campaign and encourage all couples and individuals to seek a new start to their lives by getting tested for the virus that causes Aids.

In the meantime we also hope everyone will always remember there is one thing every responsible person, including the poorest of the poor, can do in this battle against the scourge.

Behavioural change!

Indeed, it’s high time we all accepted that Aids is a serious battle on our hands.

If we don’t step up our fight against the scourge – and we are not trying to be alarmist or to perpetuate stigmas associated with the epidemic – we will, sadly, continue losing our loved ones in numbers.

The painful truth, which we will have to live with, is that our salvation lies not in the discovery of a cure but in stopping new infections.

It’s a battle that requires the efforts of the infected, affected and the uninfected.

We must realise that through our actions we either help fight or worsen this pandemic which has wreaked havoc in South Africa and the world over.

For example, experts say multiple concurrent sexual partnerships are one of the biggest causes of the high rates of HIV infection in the country.

The practice, defined as having more than one sex partner at a time, is blamed for fuelling the spread of the pandemic.

However, HIV infection could be curbed drastically if people stopped having multiple sexual partners.

This is what we see as the biggest challenge for South Africa.

The problem is not necessarily the lack of information.

It’s our cavalier attitude.

Most men and women see it as fashionable to have multiple sex partners at a time.

And many of them do it recklessly too!

A recent study revealed that more than 60 percent of the sexually active people in the Free State did not constantly use the condom which largely shields against the spread of the Aids virus and other sexually transmitted infections.

Yet the number of deaths from HIV-related illnesses must by now have jolted everyone to change their dangerous ways.

Also, men and women must be equal partners in making decisions about sex.

It is the responsibility of every one of us to help those around us to know the importance of abstinence, safe sex and getting tested early.

There are those who have tested positive already – this is not the end but rather the beginning.

Those who are infected with the virus have an even bigger responsibility of being role models in society and showing those around them that one’s HIV status does not limit their horizon.

That way we can conquer this pandemic. 

Oscar and injustice for the poor

By: Darlington Majonga

Nothing could have buttressed the widespread perception that our justice system tends to treat celebrities and prominent individuals with kid gloves more than the sentencing of athlete Oscar Pistorius did last week.

Five years in jail seems like a slap on the wrist considering the athlete was found guilty of killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in the wee hours of Valentine’s Day last year.

What exacerbates the whole issue, at least in the court of public opinion, is the possibility that Pistorius is likely to effectively serve only 10 months behind bars before parole is considered.

We understand the courts, as emphasised by Justice Thokozile Masipa when she sentenced the Olympian, are not there to pander to the public’s every whim.

It indeed matters little that the majority of South Africans and many others in the nook and cranny of the globe who have been following the Pistorius trial feel the sentence was too lenient and somehow trivialised the tragic loss of human life.

The courts are there to serve the public interests, not public opinion, so we have been told.

While we maintain our respect for our justice system, we absolutely understand the public’s exasperation with cases involving not only Pistorius but other high-profile people as well.

Recently, musician Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye and his friend saw their murder convictions being converted to culpable homicide on appeal.

Their sentences were subsequently reduced from 20 years to 10 years, two of which were suspended.

The two are likely to be released on parole within two years.

If you ask any ordinary person, they will tell you – like in the Pistorius case – that was a travesty of justice.

Of course, our competent judges know better and wouldn’t lose sleep over criticisms of their judgments and sentences.

But what should worry them is the social understanding that celebrities, politicians and other prominent and wealthy people are typically judged less harshly than average citizens when it comes to breaking the law and being punished for those crimes.

We are not in any way suggesting that celebrities are always guilty of the crimes they are charged with.

Yet it’s not a secret that one’s wealth and social status have a direct impact on the degree to which society applies laws to them.

And we are well aware too that failure to secure the services of a good legal team normally militates against the efforts of the poor to prove their innocence before the courts.

Not everyone can afford to have Barry Roux in their corner tearing into the state case to convince the court to reduce a murder charge to culpable homicide.

It’s not every man rotting in jail for murder who can afford to appeal against both conviction and sentence, like Jub Jub successfully did.

And, by the way, it’s not anybody’s problem that the majority of people are of no means and cannot afford top-notch legal representation when they are charged.

We have heard the pathetic excuse that celebrities face higher levels of social scrutiny because their crimes are more widely publicised.

Pistorius’s counsel tried to use the same line of defence during the mitigation proceedings, arguing the Blade Runner had already been punished by the court of public opinion.

While those assertions are certainly valid, they are not substantial excuses for the lenient nature of our legal system.

This whole sad scenario actually places a heavier onus on the entire justice system to do thorough work from investigation to prosecution to trial to sentencing.

It’s not the fact that Pistorius has been sentenced to five years in prison for culpable homicide that’s difficult to accept.

It’s the sad realisation that many others who were convicted of similar or less serious charges are doing more time behind bars.

In some cases, the lucky ones among the average citizens are released years after their sentencing when the case is reviewed or new evidence is discovered.

We have also seen celebrities getting away with other less serious crimes like drug possession or driving under the influence of alcohol – transgressions that would see ordinary people locked up in prison.

If our correctional centres are good enough to modify the behaviour of ordinary offenders, they should be good enough to rehabilitate our celebrities and the wealthy too.

Indeed, South Africa’s justice system needs to hold prominent citizens to the same standards to which it holds the rest of us.

And that standard must include the same degrees of punishment.