Prevention/Safer Sex/ANC
African Eye News Service,
By Steven Ntuli
Mainstream
safe sex campaigns are failing to make an impact on
ANCYL provincial spokesman Victor Nkwalase said many youth still appeared ignorant of exactly what HIV/Aids was, and appeared unconvinced of the benefits of safe sex.
This
is despite widely publicised government research indicating that 29,2% of
pregnant women in
"It
is very difficult to understand. The message is getting out, but it appears that
youths simply don't want to use condoms. They don't appear to have the necessary
discipline and are endangering everyone they encounter," said Nkwalase.
The
ANCYL's provincial executive is therefore encouraging all party leaders in the
province to voluntarily and regularly test themselves for HIV.
"If
you know your status, you can protect those you love. Most of the executive has
already tested, including acting chairman Mthandazo Ngobeni.
No
one is revealing their results, but at least we know for ourselves," said
Nkwalase.
"This
is an example of how to live responsibly, and we are urging all other ANC and
youth league members to follow our leadership and also test."
Recognising
that not everyone is able to abstain from sex, Nkwalase added that the ANCYL was
also urging the use of condoms.
"This
is not a new message. Government, churches and our elders have all being saying
the same thing for years. Now, us as youth leaders are agreeing publicly that we
should all condomise if we have sex," said Nkwalase.
The
ANCYL is meanwhile looking into the possible causes for the reportedly low
infection rates in white South Africans.
Some
research indicates that HIV infection rates amongst whites may be as low as 5%.
"We
will look into this to see is there is not perhaps something we could learn to
help fight HIV/Aids in the rest of our population," he said. - African Eye
News Service