Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - June 10, 2007
Claire Keeton

It's easy to see why Top Billing presenter Basetsana Kumalo was voted one of the top 100 great South Africans in the SABC3 informal poll in 2004.

She exudes enthusiasm even when doing a public HIV test, and is as much in her element having her blood drawn in her doctor's surgery as she would be in a fashion shoot for a glossy magazine.

The former Miss South Africa is now a TV presenter and producer, an entrepreneur and president of the Businesswomen's Association, and a committed social activist.

Sleek in a leopard-print outfit, 33-year-old Kumalo appears ready to strike out at HIV/Aids.

Falling in love with her husband, Romeo, prompted "Bassie" Kumalo's first HIV test about 10 years ago.

"We wanted to take our relationship to the next stage and agreed we should both do an HIV test," she remembers.

Kumalo says it was a joint decision and the couple - now married for seven years - have an HIV test every year as part of their annual medical check-ups.

She says South Africans should be tested regularly to maintain their health and protect those they love.

"If you know your status you can take preventative measures and prolong your life," says Kumalo.

"Aids knows no culture, no race, no social standing."

She appealed to high-profile South Africans, whether in the arts, business, politics or sports arenas, to champion HIV testing to galvanise the public.

Kumalo says she has family members affected by the disease or dead of Aids.

"One of our family members is affected with symptoms and is deteriorating but will never admit to being infected.

"We have buried a family member and ... the cause of death was covered up until the time of being laid to rest."

She says: "We see people perishing and not accepting their symptoms as there is still a lot of stigma with HIV/Aids."

Kumalo says: "In the black community there is a notion that people have been bewitched, which pains me greatly. Aids is a real disease and people are dying in numbers."

She approached her "darling husband", who is Vodacom's marketing and sales director, to be her first volunteer in the campaign.

"He was ready, willing and able," she says.

The other volunteers Kumalo wants to sign up include her friend Lindile Leketi, National Finance Housing Corporation director Nomsa Ntshingila, Top Billing presenters Michael Mol and Ursula Stapelfeldt and Ses'khona presenters Hlengiwe Nkosi and Bajabulile Masombuka.

Kumalo produces Ses'khona for SABC3 and Pasella for SABC2, as well as Top Billing, and she is editor of Top Billing Magazine. She has extensive business interests.

"We live in a country which is alive with possibilities and only our mind limits us from achieving our potential," Kumalo says.

"I have good support at home with my son, who was two years old in April. I have married a man who is my friend. He gives me wings to soar to greater heights."

Former first lady Gra a Machel, a champion of the Each One Reach Five campaign, nominated Kumalo to be one of her five volunteers.

This week at the 3rd South African Aids conference in Durban, Machel made a powerful appeal to every person to be tested for HIV and to speak to their family members about the disease.

Machel also appealed to people living with HIV to be open about their status. "We must encourage people to come out and disclose. This is an act of courage that must be commended," she said.

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