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HIV & AIDS

articles from 2001

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Uys unfazed by Aids show ban

– Antoinette Pienaar, Beeld, 8 March 2001

Johannesburg — Pieter-Dirk Uys on Wednesday said he had no idea why certain institutions were opposed to his Aids awareness performances, but he hoped they were making alternative arrangements for Aids prevention."The house is burning. We cannot be polite, knocking on the door, asking Please may I come in. There is no time for sweet talk," he said, referring to the country's Aids situation.

The Riebeek College in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape has also rejected his offer to perform his latest show For Fact's Sake free of charge.

This follows on a ban of his show on campus at the University of Potchefstroom for Christian Higher Education as it was deemed "unscientific". The show will now be staged at the municipality's banquet hall in the town.

"I have great respect for a school principal. He is the captain of his ship. I can only hope they have an alternative plan in their battle against Aids. Otherwise they should start building graveyards for children who are likely to die as they refuse to talk to them," Uys said.

He has visited 130 schools and reached more than 250 000 children and he says the reaction has been excellent.

'Alphabet Of Sex'

"For each Afrikaans school that rejects me, there are 30 who want me."

He believes that every young person should understand the "alphabet of sex".

"Information is a kind of parachute, and so is a condom. Even though it means that not everybody's aircraft crashes. The safest sex naturally is no sex at all, but we don't live in a perfect world and that's why we should keep our little parachutes handy."

His performance is partly geared to put across the message that every young person has the right to say no to sex and that doesn't mean he or she is "uncool".

Uys also tries to dispel myths, such as that HIV-positive men can be cured by raping a girl.

Be Prepared For 'Rape Realities

'He also encourages women to keep condoms in their handbags as a result of the "rape realities" of our country.

Uys works from Fridays to Mondays at Evita's Perron in Darling in the Western Cape. On Tuesdays he boards an aircraft for his school tours. Next week he will be visiting schools in Port Elizabeth.

The Univeristy of Pretoria has invited Pieter-Dirk Uys — and any other artists — to perform there."In principle we have no problem with Uys's show, but we would like to know more about the contents of his performance," university spokesperson Leon Rademeyer said on Wednesday.

RAU spokesperson Sonia Cronje said she had heard that the show had reached many people, however, the university would also require more information about the contents of Uys's show before commenting.

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