Daily Maverick columnist raises issue of accountability for South Africa’s HIV/AIDS years
In South Africa, a columnist for Daily Maverick raised the issue of accountability for decisions and political disputes surrounding HIV/AIDS during a period when such a diagnosis meant almost inevitable death for many people. The columnist believes that the country has still not properly reckoned with those years.
Pastoral service in Nongoma
The author recounts that in late 1996, a close friend with whom he went for testing learned that he was HIV-positive. After speaking with a doctor, the man asked that no one else be told. In the columnist’s view, this demonstrated the strong stigma against people living with HIV.
The author served as a pastor in Nongoma from 1992. He writes that he accompanied friends and community members to hospitals, was present after they were informed of a positive HIV status, and buried many people. During some periods, he says, he had to conduct a funeral almost every Saturday.
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In church communities, HIV was often associated with sexuality, morality and shame, the author notes. He also emphasizes inequality: affluent people had more opportunities, while for poor community residents an HIV diagnosis often meant a slow and terrifying death.
Treatment and the issue of accountability
According to the columnist, the years of the epidemic were accompanied by political denial of the problem, confusion and disputes over treatment. For people in hospitals and families caring for the severely ill, these discussions concerned whether people would be able to survive. In 2003, the author left parish ministry, exhausted by what he had experienced.
Later, when antiretroviral treatment became widely available, people living with HIV gained the opportunity to work, start families, raise children and grow old. The author asks about those who died before accessible treatment became available and about accountability for that period. He contrasts the rapid consequences for poor people with the ability of influential individuals to delay accountability for years through lawyers, appeals, audits, investigations and postponed hearings.
