VIRTUOUS LIVING - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

African countries impedes effective mobilisation and utilisation of scarce resourcesinto productive areas of activity. Paragraph 42 maintains that for a variety of reasons,both internal and external, including questionable leadership and ownership byAfricans themselves, development programmes of a continental magnitude have notbeen successful (NEPAD Document 2001:7). Moral failure could be regarded as themain deterrent of Africa’s politico-economic development. We agree, for a moment,that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is aided by degenerative morality. It would follow thatthe HIV/AIDS pandemic is a serious threat to the development of an AfricanRenaissance. This is because in the HIV/AIDS pandemic are all the negations ofAfrican rebirth. Here they are both magnified and compounded. The response ofAfrican leaders to this pandemic could be indicative of a “new political will” for therenewal of the continent. The urgency presented by the HIV/AIDS epidemic calls formoral virtue response. What, then, is the leaders’ response to HIV/AIDS and theimperative of moral virtue as one of the components of Africa’s renewal? I will drawmy examples from the South African situation to highlight the problem at stake.Whiteside and Sunter argue that the impact of HIV/AIDS on South Africa’s politiceconomicdevelopment has yet to unfold. They give eight points in support of theirargument:(i) South Africa is experiencing a high HIV infection rate (estimated 4.7million persons – See Vermaak 2001:1), which is yet to develop intoAIDS.(ii) The impact of HIV/AIDS on households unfolds only slowly through time.This area is however inadequately researched because of the stigmaattached to the disease.(iii) HIV/AIDS infects and affects people at different levels of political andeconomic participation and involvement. 33 The age group 15- 45 registers33 Schoeman (1997) and Whiteside and Sunter (2000) have done extensive research on the HIV/AIDSepidemic in South Africa and are convinced that at present the situation regarding HIV, andparticularly AIDS-related illnesses and deaths, is only the tip of an iceberg. “As South Africa enters anew century, it is clear that, in macro-economic terms, the epidemic is not yet having a measurableimpact. However, the impact of AIDS is gradual, subtle and incremental. It may well be that we willonly know the true impact on government and the private sector when we look back from 2010 at whatactually happened” (Whiteside and Sunter 2000:87).90