By Nangamso Mabindla
18 October 2006

TREATMENT Action Campaign (TAC) chairman Zachie Achmat urged local businesses to join in the fight against HIV and Aids by having in place good employee testing and support programmes.

Achmat, who has been living with HIV since 1990, was in East London recently as part of a Daily Dispatch media awareness week. Speaking to the business people on Friday, 13 October, Achmat said that one of the disappointing aspects of the fight against the epidemic was the reluctance of organised business to join in the fight against HIV and Aids.

"Some companies are still attaching a stigma to HIV and this is the main reason they don't get involved in the fight. When I speak to some of them they tell me that they like what TAC is doing but only a few of them have proper programmes in place for the fight against HIV and Aids," he said.

Some of the companies, like vehicle manufacturers DaimlerChrysler and Anglo American, did have programmes in place. Last year DaimlerChrysler South Africa, together with the Border Kei Chamber of Business, Duetsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschft and local government launched a R4,4-million initiative to combat the epidemic in the province.

The initiative, which is a public-private partnership, also aimed to help in the management of HIV and Aids in small, medium and micro enterprises in Buffalo City, the Eastern Cape and the rest of the country.

Achmat commended local organised business for this initiative, saying that it was a good model for other businesses to follow. "This is a very good initiative by the chamber and its partners. I hope that it also opens a chance for organisations like TAC to engage with big businesses in the fight against the epidemic."

However, for HIV and Aids to be combated successfully, people needed to work in unison and start taking ownership. "We need to stop waiting for leaders to do something about it; we need to reduce the impact of the disease and reduce the infection rate. And this is why we don't only need leadership from the top, but leadership from among normal people as well," Achmat said.