Johannesburg - Leading HIV and gender activist Prudence Nobantu Mabele died broken from betrayal by her own organisation.
This was revealed by people close to Mabele during her funeral service on Wednesday morning at Rhema Bible Church in Randburg.
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 Treatment Action Campaign, delivered an emotional pledge speaking directly to Mabele, saying that 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," Heywood said.
"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."
Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi, and director of United Nations Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, were among the mourners at the funeral.
Heywood said that 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," Heywood said.
"A book should be written about your life. We need to tell your story not just to those who know it but to those who don’t because it is a story of courage and hope."
Heywood says a book should be written about #PrudenceMabele's life "because it was a life lived with courage" @AfriNewsAgency pic.twitter.com/1kf0dasdeY
— Sphelele (@SpheDludla) July 19, 2017
"Recently I saw a picture of you marching to demand the resignation of Jacob Zuma. For you Prudence, we will call on deputy president Ramaphosa and the honest members of the ANC to vote President Zuma out of power on August 8 because we cannot have a good response to aids in a corrupt government."
Mabele was also hailed as a fearless and brave campaigner who lobbied government for access to treatment when politicians were resistant to roll-out anti-retrorviral treatment.
This is probably one of the most iconic and revolutionary photographs of the late HIV and gender activist #PrudenceMabele #RIPPrudence pic.twitter.com/gk0bRRApIF
— Sphelele (@SpheDludla) July 19, 2017
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.
Ditsie says #PrudenceMabele lived fearlessly, "but while she was lying in hospital she was being backstabbed by her own org" @AfriNewsAgency pic.twitter.com/QRRRuHRyEo
— Sphelele (@SpheDludla) July 19, 2017 Mourners up on their feet celebrating the life of #PrudenceMabele #RIPPrudence pic.twitter.com/Q9PZXUnyfg— Sphelele (@SpheDludla) July 19, 2017
"Sadly, while she was sleeping in hospital, she was being backstabbed by her own organisation," Ditsie said.
Positive Women's Network chairperson, Susan Nkomo, said that the organisation would keep Mabele's flame burning, adding that she was a champion of strategy and spoke the language of the people on the ground.