SAMANTHA: My name is Samantha. I’€™m 34 years old and I’€™m HIV positive. It’€™s been two years now that I’€™ve been HIV positive. You know, when I found out that I was HIV positive is when I was pregnant with my only son, who is now 14 months old. It was very difficult for me when I found out that I was positive because I was a very old-fashioned young woman. I didn’€™t believe in sex before marriage. I only had one boyfriend. So, it came as a shock to me when my results came out positive, you know.

KHOPOTSO: Jabulile Ngwenya is 17 years old. Her story goes like this.

JABULILE NGWENYA:  I found out this year (in) February just before my birthday that I am infected with HIV, which I got from my father who raped me several times last year until he was arrested in October’€¦ I can’€™t say that it’€™s because he believed that sleeping with a virgin can cure you because he was always so abusive. He used to hit my mother before my mother passed away’€¦ He did it. I don’€™t know for what reason, but he just did it.            

KHOPOTSO: Two completely different experiences, but fuelled by one common underlying cause: the false belief that males are superior to females and that men have the right to control and dictate to women. Earlier this year, South Africa welcomed the adoption of a Sexual Rights Charter, which enshrines the rights of women to control their sexual and reproductive health. Zanele Hlatshwayo is Programme Manager for Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights at the Women’€™s Health Project, one of eight organisations responsible for the development of the Charter.

ZANELE HLATSHWAYO: The campaign was born out of (the) Beijing Conference paragraph 96, which defines sexual rights as women’€™s rights to have control over – and decide freely and responsibly, on matters related to their sexual and reproductive health ‘€“ free of coercion, discrimination and violence. Paragraph 96 strongly advocates for shared responsibility between men and women and calls for mutual respect in sex-related matters and consequences.      

KHOPOTSO: The same principle guides World AIDS Day 2004, which has placed a strong emphasis on involving men in activities aimed at reducing the spread of HIV infection. The annual UNAIDS-WHO report tracking the epidemic, which was released on Wednesday, reiterates the well-known factor: The face of AIDS is young and female. The report points out that in sub-Saharan Africa three-quarters of all 15-24 year olds infected with HIV are female. To address this situation there is a consensus that prevention and remedial efforts should involve men at all levels. A movement in that direction has been growing in South Africa in the last few years, with organisations like the South African Men’€™s Forum being set up. Mbuyiselo Botha is co-ordinator of the initiative.

MBUYISELO BOTHA: There are no easy answers and there are no easy solutions. That is why we have to persevere’€¦ because you’€™re talking of a history of men who have never been exposed to things such as love (and) compassion. Now, suddenly we’€™re trying to re-invent or to change the wheel’€¦ I must say, you know, that it’€™s going to be not a short-term thing’€¦ And all we have to do – all of us – is to say that men must not be viewed as only perpetrators and be demonised. But they must also be taken on board, so that they can realise that it’€™s important for them to be part of this global change to stop HIV/AIDS and violence against women.          

 KHOPOTSO: But while a focus on making men agents for change on a personal level is great, it’€™s equally important, particularly on the African continent, to review laws and cultural practices that deny women the right to earn a living, the right to adequate education, the right to inheritance and property rights. This is a responsibility that should extend into the lives of each one of us well beyond World AIDS Day 2004.    

E-mail Khopotso Bodibe