By Nangamso Mabindla
13 August 2004

THE Buffalo City Special Programmes Unit (SPU) added a memorable event to Women’s Month celebrations with the launch of the HIV/Aids intersectoral forum at a packed East London City Hall on Friday.

Speaking at the launch, SPU chairperson Sindiswa Gomba said the forum was originally launched in 2001 but never got off the ground.

“There were a lot of loop holes in the original forum. It was believed that it only focused on East London, thus forgetting about King William’s Town and the rural areas,” Gomba said.

It also did not form strong partnerships with HIV/Aids community groups and other NGOs. “We all want to fight against the scourge, so instead of working parallel to each other we need to work in unison. With this forum we want to start a massive campaign against this killer.”

Another major problem was that people were not open about their status for fear of being discriminated against.

“With this forum we want to help our communities to banish this attitude. We don’t want people to take this disease lightly by giving it different names; we need to say the words HIV or Aids when we talk about it,” Gomba said.

In order to form strong partnerships, the forum was going to work with community groups, schools and business in the fight against the disease.

Sibongile Mthunzi from the Treatment Action Campaign encouraged youth to test their status. “That’s the only way we can know our status and not spread the disease. We need to be nation builders not killers,” he said.

He also encouraged people to talk openly about their status. “People need to know that being HIV-positive is not a death penalty; attitudes need to be changed and the only way we can do that is to live our lives positively.”

“We all want to be part of the celebrations in 2010 when the World Cup is here, let’s show that by fighting a successful battle against the disease,” he said.

The municipality will also launch its Buffalo City Aids forum later this year. “We want to show that we are ready, able and willing to fight against Aids,” Gomba concluded.