On World Aids Day on 1 December we commemorated those who live with, and have been affected by, HIV/Aids. In the 1990s and into the early 2000s South Africa faced a runaway epidemic that killed millions. Tuesday, 5 December, marked the 10th anniversary of the death of South Africa’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela. It was also the day on which the Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) held its annual lecture. This year, the lecture was given by education activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who advocates the freedom of girls and women living in Afghanistan.

It was also the 27th anniversary of our first democratic Constitution on Sunday, 10 December, as well as the 25th anniversary of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), an organisation that pioneered how ordinary people could use the Constitution as an effective tool to realise their rights. Last, 16 December is the Day of Reconciliation, which was once seen as divisive but has now come to symbolise the democratic foundation on which our country was built; ‘reconciliation’ is a word that has come to be a hallmark of our burgeoning democracy.

The month of December could therefore not go by without reflection on these great people and events, as well as on what lessons and inspiration are to be drawn from them. At a time when the world seems a grim and despairing place, we must look wherever possible for glimmers of light and the reminders of the promise we once clung to.

Mandela is undoubtedly one of the most iconic figures the world has known, and here I am not referring to the watered-down version of him that some like to reduce him to – a conciliator and cuddly, forgiving caricature. I speak of him as the fiery freedom fighter who was willing to put his body on the line and to fight for the human rights that we all now enjoy.

He was not a peacetime warrior. He committed to a cause at a time when it seemed almost laughable that liberation and freedom for all South Africans would ever be a reality, dedicating 50 gruelling and traumatic years of his life to the Struggle.

It is through his efforts and those of other leaders like him that in 1996 we were able to sign into existence a Constitution that recognises our collective humanity and right to self-actualisation and, most of all, our inherent dignity. It is a Constitution that was crafted with and by the South African people, and so we all should feel a sense of ownership and protection of its imperatives.

“By our presence here today, we solemnly honour the pledge we made to ourselves and to the world, that South Africa shall redeem herself and thereby widen the frontiers of human freedom. As we close a chapter of exclusion and a chapter of heroic struggle, we reaffirm our determination to build a society of which each of us can be proud, as South Africans, as Africans, and as citizens of the world,” said Mandela on 10 December 1996 at the signing of our Constitution.

Illustrative image: Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzai. (Photos: Gallo Images, EPA-EFE, Nelson Mandela Foundation via Getty Images and Vecteezy)

Lonely, daunting war

What is key from this quote is “widen the frontiers of human freedom” – this is evidenced by the existence and fierce work of the TAC, which bravely fought an often lonely and daunting war against the scourge of HIV/Aids, at a time when denialism and big pharmaceutical companies made it seem impossible to win the war. However, through its unrelenting activism, and buoyed by the Constitution, it triumphed and ensured that treatment needed by those living with HIV/Aids was accessible to all, thereby saving millions of lives.

Read more in Daily Maverick: TAC activists celebrate 25 years of victories, but declare that HIV fight is still not over

In an article commemorating World Aids Day last year, Anele Yawa, the general secretary of the TAC, said: “South Africa has the largest treatment programme in the world, with 5.5 million people currently on [antiretroviral] treatment across the country. Countless lives have been prolonged, and research has shown us that people living with HIV live long, healthy lives, with a similar life expectancy as HIV-negative people, provided they are diagnosed early and have consistent access to HIV treatment.”

The TAC has had an immeasurable impact on the lives of ordinary people and has safeguarded the sanctity of the right to life and dignity of those affected by HIV/Aids. The ravages of the disease can still be seen in the generation of children who grew up without parents because of HIV/Aids. However, what is more hopeful is that through the TAC’s use of the Constitution and collective action it managed to change this narrative for future generations.

Oppression of girls and women

The widening of the frontiers of human freedom has also been highlighted every year for the past 21 years, as evidenced by Yousafzai’s lecture this year and also by how the NMF has managed to attract other luminaries to speak and inspire on issues of human rights.

These speakers include the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, current UN secretary-general António Guterres, renowned professor of economics Thomas Piketty, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson and former US president Barack Obama.

Attending the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture given by Yousafzai, I was struck by how at the age of 15 she had been violently thrust into the human rights arena because her enduring belief in the equal right to education of women and girls courted trouble from an unjust system. At the annual lecture, the now 26-year-old stood (as Mandela did) as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, bearing the physical scar of the bullet she took to her head from the repressive Taliban regime.

She stood resolute, fighting for the liberation of girls and women, this time advocating the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. Her words echoed through the Mandela theatre: “With Mandela’s legacy in mind, I asked myself what injustice is the world overlooking? Where are we allowing inhumanity to become the status quo? The answer for me was very clear and very personal: The oppression of girls and women in Afghanistan.

“My family and I know what it feels like to live under the Taliban ideology. At 11 I was banned from school, at 15 I was shot and nearly killed for standing up for my right to receive education. We were always looking over our shoulders.

“Nelson Mandela and his fellow South Africans knew that feeling well, and their resilience and collective action in the face of injustice can inspire us.”

Yousafzai’s words underscored the imperative that we cannot keep quiet or allow injustice to exist anywhere in the world if we purport to ascribe to the spirit and prescripts of equal human rights for all.

My hope is that this month and the examples I have highlighted will remind us of the best of who we are and what we are capable of doing once galvanised, not only in terms of our individual causes but also of our shared humanity. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R29.