PREMIER'S ADDRESS
ALLOW me, first and foremost, to extend my appreciation for having invited me to this auspicious occasion. It is my sincerest conviction that we meet here today as South Africans bound by our genuine respect and love for our country.Programme Directors
MEC for Health Sibongile Manana
Mayors and councilors present here today
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen,
Bound by a love, a passion and patriotism so strong that we can take on anyone and anything that's bent on ravaging and tearing apart our country - including the HIV/Aids scourge.
It is significant that we meet here today on the eve of the 25th anniversary of June 16 - Youth Day. While the HIV/Aids scourge poses a threat to all our people in the province, the group that is greatly at risk is our youth. Remember, HIV/Aids is transmitted primarily through sex.
Let us remember that tens of thousands of our young people
have already begun sexual activity and become infected by the HIV virus out of
ignorance.
I know many of us have been taught to think of sex as immoral, dirty or
embarrassing, unless it is practiced within the bonds of marriage. As adults we
are not used to talking openly about sex or hearing about sex. We are not used
to talking with children about sexual matters.
These aspects of our culture, that have made us shy about sex, were developed in different times. We now have a completely new challenge with HIV. It is a new disease that was not there when our old customs were created.
The arrival of HIV means we have to make some changes to our culture because if we do not make these changes very large numbers of our young people will die and we as adults may do so as well.
We must urge all our youth to protect themselves at an early age. And to protect their loved ones against this disease by abstaining from sexual activity as much as possible; by being faithful to their partners or by always using a condom if they are sexually active.
The reality is not out there. It is here with us. The painful reality is that AIDS is with us. It is real. It is spreading. For to long we have closed our eyes as a nation, hoping the truth was not so real. The danger is real. Every day we are burying more young people than ever before who have died because of AIDS.
Every day a child suffers and has to learn to fend for him or herself when a parent dies as a result of this disease. Many of us have grieved for orphans left with no one to fend for them. We have experienced AIDS in the groans of wasting lives. We have carried it in small and big coffins to many graveyards.
At times we did not know that we were burying AIDS victims. At other time we knew, but chose to remain silent. And when the time comes for each one of us to make a personal precautionary decision, we fall prey to doubt and false confidence. We hope that HIV/AIDS is someone else's problem.
HIV/AIDS is not someone else's problem. It is my problem. It is your problem. By allowing it to spread, we face the danger that half of our youth will not reach adulthood. Their education will be wasted. The economy will shrink.
There will be a large number of sick people whom the healthy will not be able to maintain. Our dreams as a people will be shattered. Not only that. Every day, when someone, who is infected, dies, we lose a lifetime of skills and experiences; we suffer a blow to our economy that we have only just begun to rebuild.
HIV/AIDS threatens to undermine our efforts to grow our economy and build a better life for all our people. It kills those on whom our society relies to provide income through agriculture, through mining, in the factories, those who run our schools and our hospitals, and those who govern our towns and provinces. It worsens the poverty pervasive in our society when parents who are breadwinners die.
To overcome the challenge that this disease poses, every one of us must play an active part. If you are a member of a church or non-governmental organisation or a school that does not as yet have an HIV/AIDS programme, see to it that you come together to draw up such a programme.
Programme directors, I am heartened by the fact that almost all sectors are represented on the council. The religious sector, organised labour; the media, the Education sector; the business sector, Government; non-governmental and community based organisations; the sports, arts, and entertainment sector; Women and Individuals. But let me hasten to point out that every group is made up of individuals.
The final onus, therefore, rests on the individual. The reality of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is that it can only be averted by individual behavioural change.
Therefore, every individual has first to avoid an individual risk of contracting HIV. The virus knows no age, gender, race, or status boundaries. Every man, woman and child is at risk. I believe, therefore, that it is important for all of us to educate each other about the danger that HIV/AIDS poses.
As members of the Aids Council, we must all mobilise popular awareness of the seriousness of the epidemic. We must all join hands as people of South Africa in fighting this silent killer that threatens our lives and the very fabric of our existence.
To our young people, you have the right to live your life the way you want to. But I appeal to the young people, who represent our country's future, to abstain from sex for as long as possible. If you decide to engage in sex, use a condom. In the same way, I appeal to both men and women to be faithful to each other, but otherwise to use condoms.
The power to defeat the spread of HIV\AIDS lies in our collective action. As partners against AIDS, we can spread the message of prevention, acceptance of people living with HIV\AIDS, care and support for those infected and affected and pool all our resources.
We can reduce HIV transmission through abstaining from intercourse, by being faithful to our spouses or partners and by always using a condom. AIDS has no cure, but can be prevented!
There is no vaccine for HIV. For now, the best defence against HIV\AIDS remains prevention. Everyday every night - wherever we are - we shall let our families, friends and peers know that they can save themselves and save the nation, by changing the way we live and how we love.
When the history of our time is written, let it record the collective efforts of our societies responding to a threat that put the future of entire nations in the balance. Let future generations judge us on the adequacy of our response. And so today we join hands in the council, fully aware that our unity is our strength.
The simple but practical action that we take today is
tomorrow's insurance for our nation. There is no other moment but the present,
to take action. And to take it now.
I thank you.