Peter Dickson
Safe sex is now a royal command. A major Aids awareness campaign that will reach the rural Eastern Cape was launched at King Xolilizwe Sigcawu’s Nqadu Great Place near Idutywa at the weekend.
The campaign, which has received the king’s blessing, is the brainchild of the Xhosa Royal Council. With the financial backing of Spoornet, it will form an integral part of the council’s pioneering youth development project that was kickstarted earlier this year.
In conjunction with the provincial departments of health, welfare and education, the project is aimed at informing the youth about the fatal consequences of unsafe sex.
The provincial Department of Welfare revealed in June that 10% of Eastern Cape university and college students, and 15,9% of pregnant mothers attending antenatal clinics in the province were HIV-positive.
The department also revealed last month that up to 40% of beds in Eastern Cape hospitals were occupied by Aids patients. At the province’s busiest hospital, Cecilia Makiwane in Mdantsane outside East London, for example, one in four beds was occupied by Aids patients. Mdantsane also had the largest number of HIV-positive children in the province.
A report by Rhodes University population research unit head Professor Rob Shell said 215 556 people in East London were infected with HIV. Shell predicted 113 000 Aids deaths in the city by 2021, and said a massive information campaign was needed.
Heir to the Xhosa throne Prince Xhanti Sigcawu agreed: “This is hurting us a lot, especially people living in rural areas who have always been neglected. We felt we should take the initiative in educating people on how one acquires Aids and how people should deal with those who are HIV-positive.
“For too long our people have been saying this disease is in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town. But people … who head for the cities in search of jobs are coming from these poor rural areas.”
The CEO of the Xhosa Royal Council and presidential poet to Nelson Mandela, Zolani Mkiva, said this was the first time an Aids awareness campaign had been taken to the rural areas. “The message will be taken … to where it has never been taken before. There is ignorance among our youth. They in particular are our target and we will … communicate the message in a way that they can easily relate to.”