Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 19, 2002
Congress Mahlangu

The rationale came out of concerns of the economic impact of the Aids pandemic on agriculture. Other organisations that attended the workshop included the Department of Agriculture's Occupational Health and Safety Committee, Standard Bank's Philani project, Potchefstroom University and the provincial departments of education and health.

One of the participants in the workshop, Deon Groenewald, CEO of the Agricultural Employers Organisation, said HIV/Aids has become a total disaster in this country and it needs an approach of all government departments. It cannot, however, be handled in bits and pieces.

Groenewald puts the blame squarely on the government and says it should stop denying itself an opportunity to take the lead in the managing of HIV/Aids and stop playing political games with people's lives.

"The private sector and the communities are trying to help themselves in coordinating joint programmes and the government is busy engaging in unnecessary court battles over whether or not they should provide Aids drugs. We need a national strategy that will be aimed at educating our people on prevention measures and how to assist those who are already affected. Communities, the private sector and local government, as well as churches, should develop a strategy for local communities."

Groenewald warned of the high cost involved in training workers to replace those who have died. The death toll among farm workers is turning out to be higher than expected and he said that the full impact of HIV/Aids on the labour force would be strongly felt in five years.

Meanwhile, the National Land Committee believes that the lack of services in rural areas is a reflection of the government's failure to proactively address HIV/Aids.

Zakes Hlatshwayo of the NLC said the grave shortcoming of the government is the fact that it does not have a comprehensive plan to deal with the disease.

Although the organisation does not have an outreach programme for the rural communities, it feels its role is more meaningful in complementing the existing structures. "HIV/Aids is more than a health issue, it is a developmental issue.

In rural areas it has compromised family values where a boy or girl of 10 years or so has become in charge of the household," Hlatshwayo says.

Meanwhile the Department of Agriculture has established an inter-departmental committee on HIV/Aids. Maria Sekgobela, assistant manager of the department says: "In our outreach programme, we have drafted an operation plan to ensure that people in rural areas do receive the educational material on HIV/Aids. We have trained officers in our province for this project."

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