The HIV/AIDS debate, controversial as it is, should not mean that we lose our humanity, and make pronouncements that characterise us as uncaring people. To this end, the South African Council of Churches has taken a bold stance, and challenged the mighty and powerful in government circles to work in partnership with all stakeholders seeking to alleviate the plight of those infected and affected by the pandemic.

At its three-day consultation in Johannesburg last week, the South African Council of Churches expressed disappointment that one of the ANC shining stars, Peter Mokaba, was quoted in a national newspaper as questioning the link between HIV and AIDS. I will come back to this later, but let me extract a quote attributed to President Thabo Mbeki, then Deputy President of the country, by the SACC general secretary, Dr Molefe Tsele, in his address to the Consultation last week.

The President who was then addressing the 1998 Declaration of Partnership against AIDS said: "HIV/AIDS is amongst us. It is real. It is spreading. We can only win against HIV/AIDS if we join hands to save our nation. For too long we have closed our eyes as a nation, hoping the truth was not so real…"

Rightly so, the Deputy President reminded us in 1998 before he was elected President of the country that if we did not join hands in our fight against HIV/AIDS, we were like those walking around with closed eyes, "hoping the truth was not so real." Great words of wisdom expressed with the eloquence and power by the one destined to run the country a year later.

His words were repeated to some 70 delegates from various parts of the country to see what contribution they could make to open the eyes of the nation to the reality of the pandemic - and as a church, how to respond to the challenges of AIDS.

How ironic that the vacillation, and doubt, comes from within the camp that we thought would lead the assault on HIV/AIDS!

The SACC Consultation responded to Mbeki's good counsel and joined hands with scores of other South Africans, including the Treatment Action Campaign, lawyers, doctors, scientists, and many NGOs, in finding a strategy to save the nation from the devastation of the pandemic.

By holding this Consultation, the SACC was tacitly telling the President Thabo Mbeki: We are all ears. In the words borrowed from Mbeki, Tsele told the Consultation: "We pledge that wherever we meet and study, work and sing, play and enjoy one another's company, we will protect ourselves and our partners against HIV and AIDS".

What is the context that informs the church about its response to the pandemic? Often, it is informed by stories of sadness. The recent letter published by The Sowetan not so long ago serves as a wake-up call not only to the government, but to all stakeholders, to commit themselves towards developing a common strategy to fighting the pandemic.

Part of the letter read as follows: "We believe that the actions of the Mpumalanga MEC for Health, Sibongile Manana, who used a government tribunal to terminate the services of Rob Ferreira Hospital superintendent, Dr Thys von Mollendorrff, are ethically indefensible.

"We call on her to reconsider her actions carefully in the light of doctors' universally recognised ethical obligations to their patients, and to reinstate Von Mollendorff.

"Political interference in healthcare delivery was unambiguously denounced by the World Medical Association at the 38^th World Medical Assembly in October 1986…"

Quite clearly, the Assembly recognised that "Physicians must have the professional freedom to care for their patients without interference."

I am not sure if the Mpumalanga Health MEC will ever be moved by the contents of this letter, co-signed by Professors of Medicine, philosophy, ethics, and other disciples. If she will not be moved by it, she and her ilk should at least know that what Mbeki said in 1998, that we should join hands to fight the pandemic, is something we cannot shy away if we are to win the battle against HIV/AIDS.

To crucify medical professionals - for instance, in the firing of a hospital superintendent for doing what is ethically correct - hardly seems a way of responding to Mbeki's call of joining hands to save our nation from the pandemic.

What about Peter Mokaba?

Mokaba has made his point clear: he doubts that there is even enough scientific evidence that HIV causes AIDS.

But Mokaba must know that such statements are not helpful, and at best they serve to confuse many of our people who continue to be infected and affected by the virus. This is not the time to throw around statements and slogans that will personally make us famous. This is the time to work together and respond to the cries of those infected and affected by the virus.

For the SACC it is not just demanding, and calling upon the government to do this, that and the other thing. The ecumenical movement has committed itself to helping the government make the dream of fighting the scourge become a reality. We will use sermons and homilies that will destigmatise the virus; we will open our infrastructural resources such as our churches and halls for use as counselling and testing centres.

In keeping with President Mbeki's spirit of volunteerism, the church is best placed to achieve these ends of stretching a hand of help to journey and embrace those living with the virus.

If the church and the world is about new theologies of Hope and Resurrection, let us hold hands, and in the spirit of President Mbeki's 1998 speech, pledge ourselves to opening our eyes to the reality of the pandemic.

The above article, by the Rev. Joe Mdhlela, head of the SACC Communications Unit and Editor of Challenge magazine, appeared in the 16 April 2002 edition of The Sowetan. For more information, please contact Fr. Mdhlela on his cell phone, 082 456 5548.