Monday, 01 December 2025.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) marks World AIDS Day by standing firmly with the millions of South Africans living with HIV/AIDS, and by honouring all those whose lives were lost in the long struggle against the epidemic. Today, we honour the progress of the global fight against HIV/AIDS, but also the structural failures, inequalities, and declining public-health capacity that continue to fuel new infections and undermine treatment efforts in South Africa.

South Africa currently has over eight million people living with HIV/AIDS, meaning that more than twelve percent of the population lives with the virus. The crisis persists because new infections still outpace the number of HIV-related deaths. In the most recent reporting period, the country recorded well over 170 000 new infections, while just over 100 000 people with HIV passed away, roughly half as a consequence of AIDS-related illnesses.

The EFF is particularly concerned about declining condom use, which researchers have now identified as a major factor in the rising number of new infections. This reflects a broader collapse in prevention efforts, caused by failing public-health messaging, lack of resources, and the socioeconomic conditions that make safe choices difficult for poor and marginalised communities.

We note that approximately 6.2 million people are currently on antiretroviral treatment: about 78 percent of the total number of people living with HIV. This represents significant progress, but it also means nearly one in every five people with HIV is not receiving the treatment essential both for their own health and for preventing transmission. On the global HIV treatment targets — that 95 percent of people must know their status, 95 percent of those must be on treatment, and 95 percent of those must achieve viral suppression — South Africa’s weakest performance remains in helping people start and remain on treatment consistently.

This gap is both a matter of individual failure, and also a failure of the state to build a self-reliant health-care system capable of sustained, accessible and equitable care. In many ways, South Africa still relies on global funding for HIV/Aids programmes particularly for vulnerable groups, which leaves them in a precarious position with unpredictable shifts in geopolitics.

Gender disparities also remain stark as women account for more than five million of those living with HIV, yet more men die from HIV-related causes. This reflects deeper inequalities in access to care, social vulnerability, and the patriarchal structures that continue to place women at greater risk of infection while men are less engaged in the health system. This means that men get tested less, and are less likely to begin and stay on treatment, leaving women more at risk of infection.

Even more worrying is the growing number of people who begin treatment only when their immune systems are already severely damaged. Tens of thousands start therapy with dangerously low CD4 counts, a sign that many still reach care far too late. A further indication of systemic failure is the extraordinary number of people who fall out of treatment and later return leading to hundreds of thousands restarting care in a single year, many of them again with very low immune-system strength. This is the result of unstable treatment supply, overstretched clinics, social stigma, and poor follow-up systems.

Yet amidst this crisis, there is a glimmer of hope as life expectancy continues to rise as treatment extends the lives of millions. New and modern medical interventions continue to occur with a rise in non-detectable viral loads as well as the recently adopted HIV prevention injection lenacapavir (LEN), all moving us forward towards less infections.

The EFF therefore calls for an essential strengthening of the public-health system, for the government to invest further into community-based care, reliable medicine supply, and fully staffed clinics that serve the working class and poor with dignity. We insist on bolder prevention efforts, particularly for the younger generation where most new infections are arising.

On this World AIDS Day the EFF further encourages all South Africans to get tested and know their status, as it is all our responsibility to work towards the eradication of HIV/AIDS.

ISSUED BY ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Sinawo Thambo (National Spokesperson) 072 629 7422

Thembi Msane (National Spokesperson) 061 467 8169

Andiswa Madikazi (Parliament Media Liason) 069 516 4924

Thato Lebyane (Media Inquiries) 078 563 1581