AFFIDAVIT

I, the undersigned, 
BUSISIWE MAQUNGO
Hereby make oath and state:

1.	I am a 29 year old female resident at A65 Shukushukuma, Mfuleni.
 
2.	The facts herein fall within my personal knowledge unless is otherwise apparent or 
otherwise stated and is to the best of my knowledge both true and correct.

3.	I am single and have one nine year old boy, Bongisisa. I have been unemployed 
since July 2000. Before that I briefly worked as an administrative assistant for the 
Network of Violence Against Women in Athlone. I am currently a member and 
volunteer in the Treatment Action Campaign in the Western Cape.

4.	I was tested for HIV in Conradie Hospital, Pinelands in May 1999, when my 
daughter, Nomazizi, then aged one month, was very sick. She suffered from various 
illnesses including pneumonia, diarrhoea and dehydration. Doctors decided to test 
her and the results came back positive. Automatically I went for the HIV test and 
tested positive. At that time I lived with the father of my baby in Langa. Since then 
my child was always in and out of hospital.

5.	I was hurt for my child when I found out that she was HIV positive. I never suspected 
that I could be positive. The antenatal clinic that I visited before giving birth, never 
mentioned HIV. St Mary's antenatal clinic in Cape Town tested me during my 
pregnancy, but didn't tell me what it was for. I assumed that they had tested me for 
HIV as well. I saw that my file said something about being positive, but the nurse 
said it had something to do with iron, which I didn't understand.

6.	At the time of my pregnancy I had seen enough on TV about HIV and was aware of 
the drug AZT to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, but, since the nurse 
hadn't said anything, I assumed that everything was fine.

7.	I gave birth to a HIV positive child and wondered why, if she could be saved with 
AZT. I should have been told what I was tested for and asked if I wanted to be tested 
for HIV. If there was a program in all hospitals where mothers book and women were 
asked to be tested for HIV, I would have gone for a test. And if doctors had given me 
information about treatment to prevent my baby from getting HIV, I would have tried 
to get it, for the sake of my baby.

8.	I breastfed my baby for two weeks then she stopped. I had to buy formula milk for 
her which cost R24,00 for a 500g tin. A tin could last up to two weeks if I fed my child 
with other food like vegetables as well. Only after my child was diagnosed and she 
had lost considerable weight was I able to get formula milk from Conradie Hospital.

9.	My baby was always sick. I had to borrow money from her father's parents, to take 
her to hospital. She normally had to go to Red Cross or Conradie Hospital and she 
was once admitted in Tygerberg Hospital. Sometimes my baby would be out of 
hospital for a week and then she would be sick again. I never had enough time with 
her.

10.	Doctors always told me that my baby will die and that there was nothing they could 
do for her. I knew my baby would die, but I didn't want to hear it, especially not from 
the doctors all they time. My baby received no special medicines after she was 
diagnosed, she got the same medicines normally given to HIV negative children.

11.	At first I never wanted to disclose my status for the sake of my child, but I always 
disclosed to doctors for some good reason. After my child died when she was only 
nine months old, on 31 January 2000, I started thinking of disclosing my status, but it 
was still difficult.

12.	When I had to disclose my status to my boy, it was very painful. He kept on crying 
and was afraid that I would die and leave him alone. I told my boy that he must not 
worry and that I will be with him for a long time, until we are both old. I am worried 
about how my child is taking this, there is no place where I can take him for 
counseling, and I don't know what to do or how to make it easier for him.

13.	I feel HIV is a fatal disease but it is controllable. So for me, if you are already HIV 
positive, there's nothing to be scared of, you just need to accept and do something 
about it. At the moment I am healthy, but I would want to have access to treatment 
when I need it at a later stage. At first I didn't want treatment because my child who 
was innocent suffered and died without treatment and here I am healthy. She should 
not have suffered. 

14.	The government should give people with HIV anti-retroviral drugs because they 
need it.  The government should implement MTCTP nationally so that women can 
be given a choice and their children can be saved. People with HIV should also get 
treatment for opportunistic infections.

15.	I feel a program to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV is great and helpful 
because the women who were on this program gave birth to healthy babies.  
Voluntary counseling is very effective because people should end up going for 
testing and know what is right or wrong about it. Voluntary testing is especially useful 
for pregnant women because they have to know their HIV status so that they give 
birth to healthy babies. They should get Nevirapine because it is very effective, even 
those who give birth on the 6th and 7th months should get a chance for it. Formula 
milk should be given to the mothers so that they can't infect the babies with HIV from 
breastfeeding.

16.	I gave birth to an HIV positive baby who should have been saved. That was my 
experience, the sad one, and I will live with it until my last day.

 
___________________
DEPONENT

THUS SIGNED AND SWORN TO AT CAPE TOWN on this      day of August 2001 by 
the Deponent who has declared that she has read this affidavit, understands the 
contents thereof and has no objection to taking the prescribed oath, and regards the 
same as binding on her conscience.

_________________________
COMMISSIONER OF OATHS

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