Bono: ‘Real heroes are people with HIV’

U2 lead singer Bono made a surprise appearance at a sparsely attended Aids Day rally organised by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions in the Cape Town city hall, and told HIV-positive people they were “the real heroes”.

He said members of the TAC are not only leaders on the issue of HIV/Aids, but that the struggle against the disease gives clues on how everyone can work together in future “on the project of the new South Africa”.

“I’m completely overwhelmed by the work [the] TAC does,” he said.

“I want you to know we live in an age of celebrity, where if you’re an actor, or a rock star, or a hip-hop star, you’re supposed to be, you know, some kind of hero.

“Well, really that’s bollocks. Real heroes are mothers, firemen, nurses [and] people with HIV who are struggling against all odds.

“And I would say myself and Edge are humbled to be in the company of real heroes.”

The Edge is U2’s lead guitarist, who was with Bono. The two men came to South Africa for the 46664 Aids concert, held under former president Nelson Mandela’s patronage in Cape town at the weekend.

Bono said there is a chance that South Africa can lead the way in HIV/Aids treatment not just in Africa, but in the world.

“I pray you strength for your struggle, and I just want to say that you will prevail. You have history and God on your side.”

Speaking at the same rally, TAC chairperson Zackie Achmat said one of TAC activists’ big jobs next year will be to make sure people understand the philosophy of prevention in the sense of doing harm neither to themselves nor to others.

“If some one wants to have 10 girlfriends, that’s his business — as long as he uses a condom. If someone has only one girlfriend, that’s his business — as long as he uses a condom.

“If he doesn’t use a condom, he’s causing harm to himself, and he’s causing harm to his girlfriends.”

Achmat said the biggest stigma in South Africa is not only against people living with HIV, but against condoms.

The only places where condoms are freely available are in clinics and toilets.

“We need to make sure that every mosque, every church, every school has condoms. And TAC people here have to lead that campaign. If your schools don’t have condoms, it’s your responsibility. Condoms will never get into schools unless you march.”

Earlier on Monday, Mandela opened the first public-private partnership HIV/Aids treatment site in South Africa, at the GF Jooste hospital at Mannenberg on the Cape Flats.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation is funding the site in partnership with the South African Medical Association, the Tshepang Trust and the Western Cape provincial government. — Sapa