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Seminar on the impact of HIV/AIDS on land reform in KwaZulu-Natal
Hosted by the Southern African Regional Poverty Network and the Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking University of Natal, Durban
Scott Drimie
and
Deborah Heustice
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[Briefing note]
[Seminar proceedings]
[Delegates]
[Annexures]
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Seminar proceedings
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3.2. The role of the PWA in the DLA HIV/AIDS programme
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- Ms Vilas Tyku, National DLA HIV/AIDS Desk
As noted above, Ms Tyku was seconded to the DLA HIV/AIDS desk in August 2001. As an HIV-positive person her role is to facilitate the HIV/AIDS programme of the DLA by giving HIV/AIDS a human face and, in this way, helping to destigmatise HIV/AIDS in both the workplace and at the community level. She calls herself a “VIP” or viral infected person. Her role is also to provide information to land beneficiaries about HIV/AIDS and its relevance to their lives. The education component goes beyond awareness and protection to linking communities with relevant support systems and assisting communities to develop coping measures that will help them to maintain a stable community and workforce in the era of HIV/AIDS.
She has been piloting the beneficiary programme at five farms in the Western Cape but has encountered a number of problems that have, to date, made it impossible for her to effectively begin to implement the policy. She believes that this is largely because planners do not see HIV/AIDS as their priority; they have their own pressures, plans and protocols that complicate her ability to work. Ms Tyku believes that financial restraints are also a major reason for the planners’ resistance to her work: The government has distributed land to disadvantaged communities but failed to provide financial assistance. This has angered the land beneficiaries and made them reluctant to get involved in the HIV/AIDS project when their immediate priority is providing sufficient food for their families.
The rather ominous result is that while the DLA is committed to HIV/AIDS
and its HIV/AIDS policy is operating internally, on the ground nothing
is happening.
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