Witness to AIDS

241 Pages·2005·0.72 MB·English

by  Edwin Cameron

‘A remarkable book by a remarkable man. His personal account
of the AIDS epidemic in South Africa is written with great passion
yet with the balance which is to be expected from a distinguished
judge.’
Sydney Kentridge, QC
‘If truth is beauty, this relentlessly brilliant and hopeful book is
beautiful. It is a text to live by, if we aspire to the possibility of a
better life for all…in a world widely threatened by HIV/Aids.’
Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Laureate for Literature
‘A compelling, principled, and compassionate account of a
remarkable South African’s humanitarian quest for responses
to the HIV AIDS pandemic which are scientifically and
constitutionally well-founded.’
John Hood, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University
‘Edwin Cameron’s book is important for all who want insight into
the impact of AIDS on our world. Its portrayal of living with HIV
is devastatingly honest – but it also inspires hope, because we
have power to change the conditions of many millions in Africa
and elsewhere who face death in the epidemic.’
Elton John, chairman and founder,
Elton John AIDS Foundation
‘Compassionate, passionate, courageous and compelling…’
Shaun Johnson, CEO, Mandela Rhodes Foundation
‘Edwin Cameron is a very brave man; and this is a brave, honest,
and uplifting book. A prominent human rights lawyer and
outstanding judge, his pioneering decision to stand up and say
that he was living with HIV is captured here in all its turmoil and
all its pride. It’s a moving story, brilliantly told.’
Chris Smith, former Secretary of State for Culture
‘The HIV/AIDS epidemic has produced a few thoughtful and
quiet heroes. Judge Edwin Cameron is one of them. His thought-
provoking memoir is a breathtakingly beautiful story of our times.’
Susan Hunter, independent consultant,
UNAIDS, UNICEF and USAID
‘I love being a judge. The challenges are exhilarating … But I am not
only a judge. I am also living with AIDS. I am still the only public
office bearer in South Africa to have chosen to make public my HIV
status. I felt I was called to witness. I felt called to account for my
survival in a country in which hundreds of thousands were dying. I
did not feel I should remain silent.’
When Edwin Cameron announced to a stunned local and
international media that he – one of South Africa’s most prominent
citizens – was himself living with the virus cutting swathes through
the population of the continent, the impact was immediate.
In Witness to AIDS, Edwin Cameron’s compelling memoir, he
grapples with the meaning of HIV/AIDS: for himself as he
confronts the possibility of his own lingering death, and for all of
us in facing up to one of the most desperate challenges of our time.
In his intensely personal account of survival, Cameron blends
elements of his destitute childhood with his daily duties as
a senior judge and international human rights lawyer, while
focusing always on the epidemic’s central issues: stigma, unjust
discrimination, and, most vitally, the life-and-death question of
access to treatment.
Cameron’s remarkable story of his own survival in an epidemic
that has cost millions of lives is at once moving and uplifting,
sobering and ultimately hopeful.
Edwin Cameron is a Justice in the Supreme Court of Appeal,
South Africa and an internationally respected human rights
lawyer and AIDS campaigner. He is an Honorary Fellow of Keble
College, Oxford, and of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies,
London. He also holds a Special Award from the Bar of England
and Wales for his contribution to international jurisprudence and
the protection of human rights. He has been awarded the San
Francisco AIDS Foundation Excellence in Leadership Award.
Witness to AIDS
Edwin Cameron
With contributions by Nathan Geffen
Published in 2005 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com
In the United States of America and in Canada distributed by
Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St Martin’s Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
First published in South Africa by Tafelberg Publishers Limited
Copyright © Edwin Cameron, 2005
The right of Edwin Cameron to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book,
or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced
into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN 1 84511 119 2 hardback
EAN 978 1 84511 119 9 hardback
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of
Congress
Library of Congress catalog card: available
Typeset in ITC Veljovic
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin
‘For these survivors, remembering is a duty. They do not
want to forget, and above all they do not want the world
to forget, because they understand that their experiences
were not meaningless…’
PRIMO LEVI
For the Richters –
Jeanie, Wim, Marlise and Graham

Contents
FOREWORD BY NELSON MANDELA 7
1 Second chances 9
2 Just a virus, just a disease 42
3 Race, sex and death in Africa 75
4 The tragedy of AIDS denialism in South Africa 103
5 A judge is called as witness to AIDS 123
6 ‘We are not the Red Cross’ – Patents, profits
and death from AIDS (with Nathan Geffen) 157
7 Poor treatment – Justice for poor people
(with Nathan Geffen) 185
8 Choices 205
NOTES 216
INDEX 228
INDEX OF PERSONS 234
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 236
Foreword
E By Nelson Mandela
Edwin Cameron is an important South African who has made lasting
contributions in many fields, not least the law. I am delighted that he
is now adding to his titles that of ‘author’, and I have no doubt that this
book will contribute to the greater good in the same way that he has
done in other areas of life.
It is as a campaigner in the HIV/AIDS pandemic that Edwin has
been most readily recognisable as a public figure in recent years and,
as someone living with AIDShimself, his witness and activism have
shown the hallmarks of great bravery and principle that I have long
associated with his name.
Several years ago, I sent a message in support of Edwin, who was to
deliver the Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on AIDS. I said it was a
particular privilege to pay tribute to him as one of South Africa’s new
heroes: as a human rights lawyer and now Justice in our country, his
record is a testimony to his convictions and integrity. I added that as
an AIDSactivist he had demonstrated a level of courage and humani-
ty that inspired many people into action. I reiterate that message now,
and hope that the publication of his story will mean that still more
people come to understand that this pandemic demands action in the
same way that the struggle against apartheid demanded action.
I hope that every person who reads this book will feel encouraged
to make a contribution to the campaign to provide the means and re-
sources to end the pandemic. AIDSand the stigma attached to it re-
mains one of the greatest challenges for all of us wherever we live,
and it is voices like Edwin’s that will remind us, and keep on remind-
ing us, that no one should sleep easily until the disease is defeated.
Edwin Cameron was courageous in publicly declaring his status.
7