[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

'A SENSE OF DUTY OR A SENSE OF SURVIVAL': THE CHALLENGE OF THE AIDS EPIDEMIC

President of the Road Freight Association, Mr Roger Naisby,Ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting me to open your convention. I welcomed the opportunity to be with you today for two reasons.
Firstly, it gives me the opportunity, as the outgoing Minister of Transport, to say goodbye to a transport association which plays a vital role in the economic life of our country and with whom I have worked closely during my five years in government.
But perhaps more importantly, this invitation affords me the chance to address you on an issue which we (government, the RFA and organised labour in the road freight sector) have been able to forge a real and unique partnership on: that is the fight against the epidemic spread of HIV/AIDS in our country.
Ladies and gentlemen, the successful launch of the 'Trucking Against AIDS' project last month and the start of training at the end of this month is a credit to the road freight sector.
You are the first business sector in South Africa that has forged ahead in a partnership with government, employers, unions and NGOs on board to tackle a crisis that is unfolding in our country.
The crisis of HIV/AIDS cannot be dismissed as a health issue because this epidemic is peculiar in that it tears into the social and economic fabric of our society indiscriminately.
It can make orphans where there once were families; it can de-skill and decimate a labour force as it picks its way though the population; it can reduce the rate of economic growth as resources are diverted to nurse the sick; and in the continued absence of a cure, it will confront generations to come even if we are successful in our prevention campaigns now as HIV-positive today becomes people living with full-blown AIDS in years for come.
It is to the credit of the National Bargaining Council that they have taken up the challenge of what the spread of HIV/AIDS means to the trucking industry (and by industry, I mean both the employers and employees).
The 'Trucking Against Aids' project is grounded on the strategy of peer educators, which has been successful in other countries.
At the end of this month the training of the trainers, who will go into the trucking companies and on to the road and to the truck stops, will start.
Later management workshops will take place, and I would appeal to all of you to attend. The clearest way you can show your commitment to the fight against AIDS in your company is to take two hours out of your programme and attend. The fight against AIDS will be won if we lead from the front.
Recently I attended a strategic management meeting in the Department of Transport on AIDS/HIV which I found particularly instructive.
I would like all of you to close your eyes. Imagine that you are being given the results of your test for AIDS and it is positive for the HIV virus.
What are your concerns?
Would you tell anyone?
Do you know where to do for help?
Do you need help, and what kind of help?
Who is responsible for this?
What is your employer's role?
Now imagine, that the test result is your partner's: How would you react?
That is the true test. Statistics (that 3,3 million South Africans are currently HIV-positive) and projections (that by 2005 2,1 million people would have died and life expectancy by 2010 will be 37 years for woman and 38 for men) are important.
But they do not personalise what this epidemic is ... we need to bring HIV/AIDS into every day life, to make it personal and understandable.
This is a challenge because it cuts into very personal feelings.
But your feelings about sex are exactly that ... they are your own and cannot be allowed to derail this campaign. You should not stop condoms being distributed in your company because you find it personally offensive.
The campaign against AIDS is about people making informed choices about their lives. It is about living positively: whether or not you are infected or not, we are all affected by HIV/AIDS.
'Trucking Against AIDS' is part of a larger initiative to mobilise sector by sector in the Transport industry, using our infrastructure and organisation, for campaigns that will carry the message of awareness and prevention; and to build the capacity in the industry and in our country to live positively with HIV/AIDS.
It is built on the foundation of the partnerships of our society: government and the private sector; workers and management; transport operators and commuters. And it is motivated by the concern we feel for our customers.
Transport has a dynamic role to play as millions of people walk through our infrastructure daily as they catch planes, trains, buses and taxis. They pass our trucks on the roads, they go through our toll plazas. The list is endless and the challenge is great.
I am particularly proud to be part of 'Trucking Against Aids'.
From the first meeting where employers and unions responded immediately to join forces to prevent the further spread of HIV/AIDS in their industry to the drawing up of a campaign strategy to tackle prejudice and put policy in place, both parties have come to the table.
Which brings me to the topic I was given for today, 'A Sense of Duty or a Sense of Survival: The Challenge of the AIDS Epidemic'. I think that the campaign against AIDS is both.
I have no illusions how tough this issue will be for the entire trucking fraternity as AIDS throw out particular challenges in the workplace that will test the strategic management of staff and resources on both sides, as well as their compassion.
But what I do know is that employers and employees must lock arms and not fists on this issue. We have to the find the way forward where employees can disclose their status without fear or prejudice.
Otherwise we will drive this epidemic further underground and our truckers will be decimated as their colleagues further north were.
If truckers cannot live positively with HIV/AIDS knowing that their companies will not victimise them, they will carry on working long hours further depleting their immune systems with the stress of operating heavy vehicles on all too often congested roads.
That is where the battle of survival will take place.
And you can choose now where you draw the battleline: you can be on the same side against AIDS or AIDS can divide you.
I read an interesting report recently of the Metropolitan projections that a company with 1,000 employees could save R10 million over 10 years by spending R100,000 initially ad then R25,000 a year on AIDS education. That represents a 50% return on investment.
But it is over the fate of truckers who literally keep the wheels of industry turning as they haul goods across our country that you, the trucking companies, and the transport unions are going to have to make a pact to move forward together.
And that is where we all have a sense of duty as South Africans.
AIDS is not a political issue, and it is certainly not a rallying call for other causes. It is a fundamental challenge to all South Africans because it is about human lives, and how we respond to these issues is how we build our nation. That is the crisis, but that is also the challenge that this epidemic presents our country.
If we can build together infected or affected we will break down the walls of silence that allows this killer to stalk our people.
Today is the start on a long road. It is one that we must travel together (even if we sometimes argue over the route) and build the partnership that formed this campaign: the unions and companies of the road freight industry, government and the NGOs.
If we get it right as we build together, I have not doubt that we can start to turn tide. But we must all play our role as winning the war against HIV/AIDS requires the effort of all South Africans.

<EOD>