Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - November 20, 2005
Ilse Fredericks

Unzipped, a 48-minute show to be screened on SABC1 later this month, features candid interviews with artists such as Zola, Unathi Nkayi, Arno Carstens, Pam Andrews, Mandoza and Malaika.

They reveal the naked truth about intimate sexual encounters and what they think about using condoms.

Former Springbok Nude Girls frontman, Carstens, spills the beans about his first sexual adventure.

"I was on top of her going aah! aah! I thought I was doing it. She said, 'Arno ...' I said, 'What?' She said, 'It's not in", says Carstens, who was filmed backstage at a music concert in Cape Town.

The Sunday Times was given a sneak preview of the show this week.

Backstage actress Pam Andrews speaks frankly about her first time, with a friend's cousin.

"We organised the whole thing. I remember him putting on the condom. I became more sober when I saw that thing has to go in me," she says.

Andrews says she participated in the documentary "because I grew up on the Cape Flats, so I really know what young people, especially young girls in rural areas, are faced with every day of their lives. I don't speak from some high Sandton pedestal, I speak out of understanding and experience - I was there."

She says sex should be spoken about more openly.

"I feel that because I'm a role model for so many young girls in South Africa, they would really listen to me, more so than to a teacher or perhaps a parent," she says.

Andrews says most of the girls she went to school with already have children. "Preaching abstinence is not the way to go," she says.

Luther Cohen, the former presenter of the X-Attitude youth magazine show, had sex for the first time at the age of 17, and describes it in the documentary as "lovely". He says he was on a rooftop with a girl with "candles" and "chocolates".

Cohen warns young people watching the documentary to use "a rubber".

Singer and actor Zola says part of performing is picking up girls.

"There will always be somebody winking while you are performing and asking, 'Do you want my number?'"

He recalls the first time a girl helped him put on a condom.

"She put it on me, she put it on me real good. It was quite an experience ... She was older than me," says Zola.

Zola says the documentary "clears the confusion that things never go wrong in our lives".

"We also make mistakes when we are young," he says.

He says he believes the message of safe sex should be relayed to young people in a direct way.

"We talk about HIV/Aids, we talk about using condoms, we talk about drugs and stuff, but kids are still getting into drugs every day. If we are going to do this kind of campaign, then let's go all the way. I mean this is something we haven't tried before. This is more intimate," he says.

YFM DJ Nkayi says sex should not be sugar-coated.

"Stop being romantic. I hate all these ads that say it's like a box of chocolates ... If you don't use a condom, you will die," she says.

Another local star, Loyiso, also warns South Africa's youth to keep their condoms "close by".

"It's never really the guy's decision to have sex. If you have condoms, make sure you have them close by," he says.

The programme is part of Levi's Red for Life initiative, which aims to create Aids awareness among the youth.

Co-producer and director Cal Bruns says he filmed some of the artists backstage at a concert earlier this year.

"These are the ones the kids look up to; why don't we help them to try to educate kids?" he says.

Levi Strauss SA MD Mike Joubert says he recognises that some parents may be a bit shocked by the documentary.

"We recognise parents may flinch. Those who watch it will realise that it is real. The message is more important, " he says.

The Treatment Action Campaign, one of the beneficiaries of the initiative, is represented by Nokhwezi Hoboyi, who says that hitting the youth with a direct approach is "definitely the best way".

"To have the musicians talking about it will definitely let the youth listen up," she says.

*Unzipped will be screened on SABC1 on November 28 at 10pm and on December 1 at 11pm.

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