Peter Busse, who died last Friday, was one of the foremost Aids activists in South Africa, Africa and internationally. Living with HIV for 20 years, he was one of the first people in South Africa with the courage to disclose his HIV status. In this he became a role model and enabled many other people living with HIV to follow his example, thereby bringing the epidemic to the notice of South African society.
Busse was a person with enormous charisma and charm who was loved and respected across a wide range of organisations and sectors of society. He had a warmth and ease with all people, able to make a connection with whomever he was communicating. A man of deep integrity and honesty, he was committed to ensuring that people living with HIV/Aids were central to all aspects of Aids work and his public presentations on living with HIV were an inspiration to all.
A librarian by training, he became involved in HIV/Aids work in the early stages of the epidemic. He helped to establish the Township Aids Project in the late 1980s, worked as a senior Aids counsellor in the Hillbrow Aids programmes in the early 1990s, and became the director of the National Association of People Living with Aids in 1997.
He developed and implemented many programmes that are integral to the training of HIV and Aids educators, trainers, counsellors and health professionals. Recently, he had been part of the international HIV and Aids response, acting as a consultant to NGOs and development agencies in other African countries, North America, Asia and Europe.
In some ways, it is difficult to capture the essence of Busse’s life and work because he was such a unique person and his work spanned so many aspects of the Aids epidemic.
Busse was deeply committed to combating the HIV- and Aids-related stigma, working with the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/Aids (PLHA) programme, the Faces Project and the Global Network of People living with HIV/Aids to bring PLHA voices to the fore. Widely consulted by embassies and HIV/Aids project officers, he was respected for his depth of knowledge on all aspects of the epidemic.
Integral to international Aids conferences, he ensured much of the success of the Durban 2000 International Aids conference and was the community programme adviser for the Barcelona and Bangkok conferences.
Busse was a skilled trainer, facilitator and speaker. In this work, he showed an astounding capacity to touch an audience, sharing with them his own HIV journey, warts and all. He was never afraid to say, “I am human, I don’t always look after myself as I should”, simultaneously allowing people to feel unjudged yet encouraged to do better. He retained a dignity and privacy about his personal life but was open about his sexuality, making a significant contribution to the lesbian and gay political movement.
Busse was an incredibly loyal friend and inspired loyalty in return. He often attributed his long survival with HIV to his friendship circle, which spanned the globe. He touched many lives, able to transcend racial and political differences.
He hated bigotry and intolerance and stood for a commitment to human rights, democracy, fairness, justice and compassion. He had a wonderful sense of humour and lived his own life with endless enthusiasm, confidence and hope and engaged everyone he met with his ability to find pleasure in small things. His life and legacy are an inspiration to all.