Associated Press - December 12, 2002
Mike Cohen, Associated Press Writer

Over recent months the 84-year-old Mandela, who led the fight against apartheid and remains South Africa's most revered public figure, has emerged as a champion of the fight against the country's rampant AIDS epidemic, one of the world's worst.

One in five adults are estimated to be HIV-positive, and a recent study by the Medical Research Council warned that up to 7 million people could die of the disease by 2010 unless radical action is taken.

"This is a serious matter, it's a war," Mandela said on a visit to a clinic in the sprawling Khayelitsha township on the outskirts of Cape Town, where the charity Doctors Without Borders monitors 3,000 AIDS patients and provides free treatment to 300 of them.

Aides say Mandela now devotes 60 percent of his time toward fighting AIDS.

Over recent months, a foundation Mandela started has launched an initiative to secure treatment for 9,000 AIDS sufferers who would otherwise be unable to afford it.

And on Friday, Mandela announced plans to host a concert featuring some of the world's top entertainers - including U2, Macy Gray and Shaggy - to raise money for AIDS victims. The concert will be held on Feb. 2 on an island off the coast of Cape Town where Mandela was imprisoned for nearly two decades by the apartheid regime.

Mandela was freed from prison in 1990 and went on to become South Africa's first democratic leader before stepping down in 1999.

As president, Mandela mainly delegated his subordinates to deal with the AIDS crisis. When the government launched a major anti-AIDS drive, Mandela left it to his then-Deputy President Thabo Mbeki to deliver its message over state television. Many believe the step was taken because it was viewed as improper in African culture for an elderly gentlemen to talk openly about sex.

But on Thursday, Mandela, gray-haired and walking with a cane, spoke freely about using condoms, the necessity for people to remain faithful to their partners and for AIDS sufferers to be accepted within their communities. He urged young people to wait for as long as possible before they started having sex.

"HIV is like any other disease," he sternly told a crowd of several hundred people. "We must love people who have HIV. To stigmatize people - you are not acting like human beings."

There is no indication Mandela is HIV positive despite the words on his T-shirt, although he has lost two relatives to AIDS. He said he had been awakened to the severity of the epidemic by the long lists of young people's obituaries in the newspapers.

His attitude has delighted AIDS activists and sufferers.

"People think if you are HIV positive, you are no longer a person," said Kholiswa Ramncwana, 25, who was diagnosed with the disease in 1999, and met Mandela Thursday while visiting the Khayelitsha clinic for treatment.

"They will listen to him (Mandela)."

Dr. Eric Goemaere, who heads the clinic, said there had been a sea change in attitudes toward AIDS and that people were now talking openly about it.

In 1998, 450 people had been tested for HIV at Khayelitsha clinics, while this year more than 12,000 tests had been done, he said.

Zackie Achmat, who heads the Treatment Action Campaign, an AIDS activist group, said Mandela's support had been vital.

"The direct involvement of (former) President Mandela in HIV prevention, in looking after orphans and above all the fight for treatment is in many ways more important than his fight against apartheid, because he is fighting to save ... millions of lives," Achmat said. "I think it's giving many of us courage and strength. He speaks to everyone and that really helps."

Mandela's forthright approach sharply contrasts with that of his successor Mbeki, who rarely speaks about AIDS, has questioned the link between HIV and AIDS and whose government has insisted that providing universal access to treatment is unaffordable.

Mandela said he was discussing the issue with Mbeki.

"They are coming round, they are going to do something to show the government cares," he said.

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