witnessing a great south african launching his witness to aids

By Esau Mathope (Pictures by: Sabelo Mlangeni)

April 13, 2005: "Gentleman, can I flirt a bit?" After almost two hours of attending autograph seekers, this is how Judge Edwin Cameron deflects the attention away from himself. A few minutes is all he gets. And the autograph seekers are back in earnest. As overwhelming as it could be, Cameron seemed to have accepted the responsibilities that come with being South Africa's only openly gay and openly HIV-positive member of the judiciary.

Those responsibilities include penning down a memoir and commentary about what his sexuality and health has allowed him to be. A profound and challenging individual, Edwin seemed to have shelved that persona aside. After all we are at the Exclusive Books branch at plush Hyde Park. The occasion is the launch of his book, Witness to AIDS. On a phone conversation a few months earlier he had said "I am as fit as a fiddle".

To pay tribute to a man Nelson Mandela refers to as one of the country's new heroes were stalwarts, friends, members of judiciary, well-wishers as well as a number of prominent activists from a range of sectors. Out of a suspected recluse lifestyle to lend support was someone rarely seen in Johannesburg functions lately, Nadine Gordimer.

In his carefully crafted speech, Cameron stated that the national rollout of free anti-AIDS drugs at public hospitals was making the disease manageable.

However, the event's biggest moment was Professor Malegapuru Makgoba's speech. He made it quite clear that as a married African heterosexual man, he still finds it puzzling that some South Africans still indulge in debates like is homosexuality un-African? Making it quite clear that the subject is never debated, or when circumstances allow, never dialogued, without trivia and dogma, Makgoba praised Cameron's ability to challenge moribund traditions and convention without losing focus.

When Cameron eventually put his own personal signature to the last of hordes of autograph seekers, it was visible on his face that he had enjoyed himself thoroughly. Why else would someone who has written such a thought-provoking book shout across a room to a reporter "oh camels (cigarette brand), I need one of those when all this is done".