Jules
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I am a 30-something Australian, who travels frequently for work and fun. Having lived in Australia, London, China and now Dubai, I blogs about life as...
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Politics, Rape & HIV in South Africa

May 08, 2006 3:42 pm by Jules in Health
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Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Dragon Girl.

Since there is no Contributing Editor for Africa (any volunteers?), I thought that I would pick up this story, since it seems too important to not mention it.

The verdict in the Jacob Zuma (the former deputy president of South Africa) rape trial in Johannesburg has just been handed down, with Zuma acquitted of rape. The case touched on so many hot button issues, but the Big Issue reported in the media has been the fact that the accuser is HIV positive, sex occurred without a condom, and Zuma's beliefs about how HIV is contracted.

From the NY Times:

At the same time, the judge excoriated Mr. Zuma for what he called his "totally unacceptable" behavior in having unprotected sex with his accuser, an H.I.V.-positive AIDS activist, outside his existing marriages to other women.

Once his government's leading official on AIDS issues, Mr. Zuma testified that he believed he had little risk of contracting the AIDS virus because he had showered after having sex with the woman. The remark enraged women's-rights groups and AIDS activists in a nation where more than one in eight adults is H.I.V.-positive and the incidence of rape is reported to be among the highest on earth.

AIDS hotlines were briefly besieged after his testimony with queries from men asking whether soap and water could prevent AIDS infections. Judge Van der Merwe said today that Mr. Zuma's remark was beneath comment.

After all of the HIV/AIDS education that has gone on in South Africa, I find it astounding that these kinds of attitudes and beliefs can still exist.

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nomadicfoodie
nomadicfoodie 5 pts

A friend who has been doing Aids Education effectiveness research in RSA - it has after all been around for more than a decade - tells me that the people most at danger from IGNORANCE are religious Afrikaners. The people who are most informed about Aids are black people, but the people most at RISK from lack of behavior change are rural black people.

So, education does not change centuries of traditional gender roles, women submitting to sex on demand, from whomever and little confidence in requesting protection from their partner.

Zuma's attitude and sadly his support portrays all of that.

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5 pts

South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world, and even with enormous resources spent on educating the people the number is still increasing. Comments like this from the previous deputy president and a
chairman on the AIDS Council of South Africa is horrifying. It shows that the
path to conquering this decease is far from won. It also shows that promoting
education is easy part of the battle, changing the attitudes and minds of people
is the difficult part.

The secret to happiness is not in doing what one likes to do, but in liking what one has to do. ( http://www.frequentlyright.net )

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meriwilliams
meriwilliams 5 pts

Good on your for picking it up!

I think this whole thing is just so sad, because it will have set back AIDS education in so many ways. Although hopefully the shock and horror being expressed both nationally and internationally at his idiocy will promote some awareness!

That said, it has also highlighted a problem, which I think is very important. Thabo Mbeki's government is notorious for sending mixed messages about HIV/AIDS and in denial about a lot of the issues.

I'm sure you may have seen, a while back there was a ruckus about Mbeki saying that he had "never met anyone with AIDS". Not long afterwards, Nelson Mandela held a press conference sharing the fact that his eldest son had died of AIDS. Hopefully Zuma's latest comments will shame the government into getting some real education on the issues and making it more of a focus again.

I think the one thing that is very positive is that the younger generations are increasingly better informed. When I was in high school in Stellenbosch, we had SO much focus on STDs and HIV prevention ... it really shocked me when I came over to England and found all these girls who were just on the pill and thought that was plenty of protection!

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