Nobody believes they could really get AIDS.

last updated 8 January 2015

South Africa

Editorial

The former deputy president of South Africa has acknowledged that he had unprotected sex with a woman he knew was HIV-positive. What should we learn from this admission? asked the Johannesburg Business Day in an editorial. The obvious conclusion is that Jacob Zuma has poor judgment. But we knew that about this disgraced politician even before he went on trial for rape (he said the sex was consensual; the woman, an AIDS activist, said it was not). The larger lesson is about all of us—about South Africans. How many of us have ever, like Zuma, opted to skip the condom and take our chances? We can no longer plead ignorance. The many AIDS-awareness campaigns sponsored by the government or charities over the years have reached even the most isolated areas. We all know there are at least 2 million South Africans who are HIV-positive yet have never been tested. "We know AIDS kills; we have more free condoms than you can shake an erection at—and yet we act like we are invincible." This "sense of being untouchable" is the final obstacle in our battle against the disease. Sadly, for most people it will only be overcome when they are touched, irrevocably, by AIDS.