Hon Deputy Speaker, Your Excellency, the Deputy President, Mkhuluwa, hon Minister of Health, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers and hon colleagues, since we as leaders in our country first accepted the responsibility of speaking openly about HIV and Aids, despite the traditional taboo of discussing issues of sexuality - and it is the truth, because of this taboo - South Africa is taking some faltering steps forward in fighting the HIV/Aids pandemic.
If one looks at where we began and where we are now, one might be tempted to talk in terms of giant strides that have been taken. However, I talk about faltering steps because, clearly, we could have done so much more and done it so much faster. Lives have been lost to this battle simply because this government was slow to respond appropriately. I said so in the Cabinet, when the then head of state and government were in denial of HIV and Aids and when his Minister of Health was in denial of HIV and Aids.
I first spoke at the funeral of my son, Prince Nelisuzulu Benedict Buthelezi, in April 2004, and lamented that he had lost his long war against HIV and Aids, but the space to talk about this opened up. I spoke again in August that year, when I lost my daughter, Princess Mandisi Sibukakonke Buthelezi, to HIV and Aids.
A few months later, His Excellency, President Nelson Mandela, lost his eldest son, Makgatho Mandela, and he too found the courage to say that his son had succumbed to Aids. Together, we called on our nation to break the silence and destroy the stigma - which today the Minister has spoken about - that prevented us, as a nation, from talking about this disease. Leaders in our communities and leaders in our nation are still carrying that message, for it is still the message that will turn the tide on this pandemic. We need to break the silence, colleagues, and speak the truth.
I therefore welcome the HIV Counselling and Testing campaign launched in Parliament this afternoon. I support the many efforts being made across the spectrum of our society to encourage people to be tested, accept responsibility for their health and make the right lifestyle adjustments that would see the spread of HIV infection arrested. This is a battle we can win. Indeed, we are encouraged by the message from government that we are already tasting victory, Minister.
How wonderful it is to hear that our government has saved hundreds of thousands of lives by providing antiretrovirals to mothers and newborn babies. It happened just as the IFP had said it would.
In 2002, when the IFP was at the helm in KwaZulu-Natal, our then premier, Dr Mtshali, rolled out antiretrovirals to mothers and their newborns at clinics across the province. It was an effective and simple treatment that saved countless lives. Thus we asked the national government at that time to follow suit. However, our ANC-led government at that time refused, forcing the Treatment Action Campaign to drag them all the way to the Constitutional Court, where government protested that it simply could not be done. The IFP intervened as amicus curiae, a friend of the court, proving that it could be done and that it was done very effectively in KwaZulu-Natal. We predicted that it would save hundreds of thousands of lives. Thus the Constitutional Court ordered government to do it.
Now that we are proven right once again, we hope that, for the sake of our country, our brothers and sisters in the ruling party will listen more closely to the IFP, because these are matters of life and death about which we dare not play politics of opposition for opposition's sake.
The pandemic of HIV and Aids is so intertwined with the severe challenge of tuberculosis, TB, as the Minister has said, that the one cannot be discussed without the other. In this case, too, the solution is breaking the silence and ensuring that people seek a diagnosis, as the Minister has told us, and follow the medical regimen all the way through.
The IFP has been a champion in the fight against HIV and Aids and TB. We will remain at the forefront of this battle until it is won. Mkhuluwa, we must thank Msholozi for appointing a Minister like this, not just a cadre, but also a committed person. Thank you. [Laughter.] [Applause.]