Nkosi Johnson, who died yesterday, was a symbol of bravery in the face of adversity for people throughout the world. The courage and frankness of this 12year-old boy has touched the hearts of millions and focused worldwide attention on AIDS which has reached epidemic proportions in his native land.
At present, almost five million South Africans are HIV positive. The infection rate is increasing by 1,600 each day. Deaths from AIDS are expected soon to reach a rate of 200,000 annually. The United Nations organisation, UNAIDS, predicts that half of those aged 15 in South Africa today will eventually die of the disease.
The figures have reached horrifying proportions but they point to a phenomenon that is not new. The problem has its origins in the days when the apartheid regime stumbled towards its demise in the first half of the 1990s. It is, only now, being uncovered. The current government under President Thabo Mbeki inherited, along with the disease itself, a health system devised by the most racist regime the world had known since the end of the second World War. Almost all resources were devoted to health care for whites. Despite these mitigating factors, South Africa's government must shoulder a large proportion of the blame for the current situation.
It is tragic that failure in this sphere comes against the background of success in other areas. There has been, in many instances, a reduction in petty crime. Important advances have been made in the field of education where an increased success rate in the national Matriculation examination is evident. There has been improved housing for those previously reduced to living in the utmost squalor. Water is now far more readily available.
In the struggle against AIDS, however, President Mbeki has been influenced by an international dissident group that believes HIV may not be the cause of the full-blown disease. He considers many of the antiretroviral drugs used in combatting the problem to be dangerously toxic. Despite a landmark victory over multinational companies, there is little sign that these drugs will be used in a government effort to fight AIDS.
It is hardly surprising that Mr Mbeki, like many African leaders, may be suspicious of advice tendered by those in Europe. In the past, Europeans frequently gave, not advice but arrogant instructions, to the African people they held in their thrall. Not infrequently, these orders were designed to worsen the living conditions and the human rights of local populations.
But in the Europe of today much of the criticism of South Africa's AIDS policy stems from sympathy with the plight of ordinary people and is tempered by admiration for the country's achievements and for its vigorously healthy democracy. The valour of Nkosi Johnson should serve to spur the international community, Europeans and Africans together, to combat the disease that has taken his life.