Circumcision no Aids cure, says monarch

SIPHO KHUMALO

Men who believed that circumcision had rendered them immune to contracting HIV would die, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini warned yesterday.

Reporting on the circumcision programme being conducted by the provincial government – in response to his call in 2009 for the procedure to be performed in the province – the king said he had heard that some men who had been circumcised wanted to find out what it was like to have unprotected sex.

“I wish to state that if they do that, they will definitely contract the virus. Therefore, I warn against misleading myths. HIV/Aids is real and it kills.

“I wish to reiterate that at no point have I suggested that circumcision is a cure for HIV/Aids; nor have I suggested that once a man is circumcised he cannot contract HIV.

“We are fighting this battle in order to minimise the chances of spreading this epidemic,” the king said.

However, he was pleased that thousands of young men in KwaZulu-Natal had been circumcised without any complications.

“No one has died. No one has been cut incorrectly. No one has had to go for an operation after a circumcision that was botched,” he said.

The king said that about 99.5 percent of the 17 790 that had been circumcised were found to be HIV-negative.

This gave him hope that there was still a chance to save his people from perishing because of HIV/Aids.

“I was also pleased to learn that our provincial Department of Health has set itself a target of approximately 2.5 million circumcised men by January 2014,” he said.

At the circumcision camps the men were also taught about living a hygienic lifestyle, the upbringing of a man, their conduct, as well as what was expected of a man.