Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times, South Africa - November 22, 1998
Bareng-Batho Kortjaas
The former security police informer has become a fieldworker for the National Association of People Living with AIDS - an organisation which assists victims of the killer disease.
Hlongwane makes no secret of the fact that he has also contracted HIV, saying it has turned his life around and has made him a better person.
"I discovered that I was HIV positive towards the end of 1996 after developing symptoms like diarrhoea and loss of appetite. The doctor said I would live for not more than 14 years.
"At the time I was ignorant and naive about HIV and AIDS. I perceived it as a white man's disease, or one which attacks prostitutes. I never used condoms in my life. I saw them as a strategy by the white government to reduce the black population," he said.
Hlongwane, 35, said he contracted HIV from a woman he lived with in Durban. But instead of descending into depression and despair, he has taken to educating workers in KwaZulu-Natal on the danger of AIDS.
"It took a long time to accept that I was going to develop AIDS. But I have learnt to deal with it. Now I am helping others to either avoid getting the virus or assisting them to cope once they have it," he said.
He now travels the length and breadth of KwaZulu-Natal, speaking at schools, churches and businesses. ldrawing large crowds to his lectures.
Hlongwane is the first to admit that many of those who attend his talks do so mainly because they are intrigued to meet the man who claimed he was tortured by high-ranking ANC leaders such as Jacob Zuma and Alfred Nzo.
But he has since retracted the allegations, apologised to the ANC and confessed to having worked as a security police informer in the turbulent '80s.
Hlongwane returned from exile in 1991 and threatened to kill ANC leaders he said had tortured him. He later established the Returned Exiles Committee - a group of 32 disgruntled exiles detained by the ANC - which he later admitted was a National Party front.
981122
ST981104
Copyright © 1998 - The Sunday Times. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Sunday Times Permissions Desk.
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, iMetrikus, Inc., the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1998. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 1998. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .