Sunday Times, South Africa - July 9, 2000
Carmel Rickard
Judge Yvonne Mokgoro of the Constitutional Court was the opening speaker at an official satellite conference on AIDS and the law. She said that HIV/AIDS was an epidemic which called for an "extraordinary" response.
"It is a war that we are fighting," she said. "We have to take drastic steps."
The elegant, normally highly composed judge could not keep back tears as she recalled the story of a man she knew well who was effectively fired from his job because he had AIDS.
He was diagnosed in 1997, and was devastated by the news. He told his brother, but said he could not bring himself to tell his wife.
As he became sicker, he started taking days off work. His employer eventually phoned his doctor, discovered his HIV status and told the man he should go home "and stay there permanently".
When his young, pregnant wife arrived back from work, she found him "hanging by his neck from the rafters of their single room house".
A suicide note was addressed to his "beloved wife".
His wife refused to be tested for the AIDS virus, saying there was no point, that she did not want to know and that with the death of her husband she was "already dead".
She has since died of AIDS, and their child, who is now four, is HIV positive and in the care of his uncle.
Judge Mokgoro, whose court will hear its first HIV-related case during August, said it was important that both lawyers and judges be educated to understand the many issues relating to HIV/AIDS and human rights.
She said that if the results of the Fifa bid for South Africa to host the world cup soccer competition were anything to go by, the world appeared not to be ready for a change in its thinking, away from a preoccupation with the First World.
Referring to the theme of the satellite conference - "Putting third first" - she said the tragedy of HIV/AIDS demanded that the world accept a rearrangement of its priorities.
"We need to put the third [world] first," she said, "instead of always putting the first [world] first, no matter how devastating the outcome."
She said the epidemic had brought "global havoc": since the illness was first discovered, 16 million people had died, it had had a severe impact on development and more than 33 million people were now HIV-positive.
Judge Mokgoro said she had planned to stay for the entire conference, but had to leave early as she had been informed of the death (from AIDS) of a friend, and wanted to attend the funeral in her home town of Mafikeng.
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