Leading HIV and gender activist Prudence Nobantu Mabele died broken from “betrayal” by her own organisation.
This was said by people close to Mabele during her funeral service attended by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Rhema Bible Church in Randburg yesterday.
Mabele, who was the founder and executive director of Positive Women’s Network, succumbed to pneumonia at the age of 46 in a Rosebank hospital in Johannesburg.
She broke ground in 1992 in South Africa by publicly revealing her HIV-positive status.
Mark Heywood, co-founder of the Treatment Action Campaign, delivered an emotional pledge speaking directly to Mabele, saying he was sorry that Mabele died feeling betrayed.
“Two years ago you wrote to me to complain about people who stabbed you in the back.
“I’m sorry you died feeling betrayed,” said Heywood.
“At the time of your death I hear people lament that civil society is divided. There are two streams in civil society. Yours is the stream that flows cleanly and clearly.
“We are divided against corruption, against those who are parasitical on the response to Aids. We will build unity. Yes, we will. But it will not be a fake unity. It will be unity with the poor, the marginalised, the violated and discriminated against.”
Ramaphosa, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, and the director of United Nations Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, were among the dignitaries at the funeral.
Heywood said Mabele’s life-long activism was an inspiration to others, adding that South Africans had a responsibility to fulfil some of Mabele’s wishes.
“You were an activist, a warrior woman, a woman in a line of activists, some of whom are still larger than life. Indeed, the best leaders I know are women who have risen to fight in solidarity with other women,” said Heywood.
Mabele was also hailed as a fearless campaigner who lobbied government for access to treatment when politicians were resisting the roll-out of anti-retroviral treatment.
Mabele also sat on the board of the South African National Aids Council, advising government on issues of sexual and reproductive health, as well as HIV.
Her friend, Bev Ditsie, said Mabele was a woman of truth who visited Aids patients at public hospitals and confronted nurses about unhygienic conditions.
Ramaphosa said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mabele family. We hope that in your bereavement you can draw comfort and strength from the many people in this country, and beyond, who offer you their gratitude for producing such an extraordinary human being.”
He said Mabhele’s courageous life journey, the campaigns she fought, the causes she championed, echoed the historic march by 20000 women to the Union Buildings in 1956.
“As we struggle to come to terms with the deep pain of her passing, we celebrate a life that made such a profound difference in the lives of so many. We celebrate the life of a person who - through her activism, her passion, her commitment, her compassion, her defiance - has left an indelible mark on all of us,” Ramaphosa said.