In Memory of Winstone Zulu

October 19, 2011

Winstone Zulu, colleague, friend and mentor to everyone at AIDS-Free World, died October 12 after a long battle with a virus that eventually defeated his body, but never managed to subdue his passion for justice, his extraordinary intellect or his boundless hope. Winstone was an enormous, affecting presence for those who had the privilege of knowing him and working with him, and his passion, intellect and charisma come through in the work that he leaves behind.

Winstone first gained international recognition by calling for greater attention to be paid to tuberculosis among people living with AIDS. At a time when antiretrovirals were still expensive and difficult to obtain in Africa, many people were dying for lack of access to tuberculosis drugs that cost only ten dollars. Winstone himself was able to defeat tuberculosis, but lost four brothers and two sisters-in-law to the disease. In a speech delivered in 2003 at the World Conference of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Winstone stressed the need to deal not only with HIV infection but also with the infections they caused.

We all know that antiretrovirals are ultimately what we need. There are medications that are available now that have shown they can prolong life and improve the quality of life. But for many of us the dream of getting antiretrovirals is much more farfetched than the dream of getting drugs for ten dollars that can cure you of your disease. Even to me, who has been an AIDS activist for a long time, this is a new way of looking at things. And now when I see someone living with HIV, I say, well, if you don’t have antiretrovirals now, you should go and get checked for tuberculosis. If you have tuberculosis, it can be cured.

A video of Winstone’s remarks at the HIV/TB Global Leaders Forum in 2008 displays Winstone’s skill as a speaker.

Later in his life, Winstone became an active disability rights advocate, stressing the need to provide HIV education, prevention and treatment services to people with disabilities.  Winstone contracted polio as a young child, which caused him to have to use crutches to walk.  In a piece written for Pambazuka News, Winstone explored the discrimination against people with disabilities.

My expectations of society for people with disabilities are basic but fundamental. I cannot speak for all people with different forms of disabilities. But generally, I just want to be treated as any other human being. I want an environment that can provide me with full access to what everyone else has a right to. That means the full range of human rights including the right to be involved and actively participate in all issues that affect the human family. I don’t want to be ignored simply because I am using a wheel chair to move from point A to point B.

In a recent op-ed written for the New York Times, Winstone attacked the prejudices that continue to increase the HIV risks faced by people with disabilities.

I spoke at an AIDS conference not long ago, and after the talk, someone asked me how I had contracted H.I.V. 'Well,' I replied, 'sexually.' Staring at my crutches, which I have used since I got polio as a child, she exclaimed, 'But how?' The assumption that all disabilities — of hands, feet, hearing, sight — somehow also affect the ability and desire to have sex is common. It would be comic if it didn’t have such serious consequences: people with disabilities are rarely exposed to sex education and are almost never considered in need of information about H.I.V. and treatment for it. As a result, although people with disabilities are just as likely to be sexually active as people without, our H.I.V. infection rate is up to three times higher.

The outpouring of loving remembrances of Winstone in the wake of his death capture the man and the effect he had on those around him.

Father Michael Kelly, who worked with Winstone at Kara Counseling in Lusaka, wrote in the Zambian newspaper The Post:

In 1990 it was unheard of for anyone to go public about their HIV status and even today very few people are willing to have their HIV positive status known. Winstone fought all his life against discrimination and stigma on behalf of People Living with HIV and AIDS. Winstone's astonishing courage as the first person to go public about his HIV status as part of Kara's AIDS outreach education campaign was immediately honoured by President Kaunda who gave a special luncheon at State House with Winstone as the guest of honour. In the early 90's, Winstone was almost daily in the media as there was no one else willing to talk personally about issues of living with HIV/AIDS at that time.

Mercedes Sayagues, a reporter who met Winstone in the early-1990s, wrote of Winstone’s dedication.

He was under no illusions — about greed, corruption, complacency and hypocrisy among politicians, donors and fellow activists — but he kept alive his dream: that treatment was a right of Africans, of the disabled, gays and sex workers. That TB is as bad as HIV and deserves as much attention and resources. That discrimination does not have a place under the African sky.

Stephen Lewis, in remarks read at a memorial service for Winstone in Zambia, expressed his amazement upon first meeting Winstone, and captures the feeling that so many had while in his presence.

My mind went back to our first meeting in 2002 when I was the UN Envoy, and Winstone headed the Association of People Living with AIDS. I remember thinking at the time: where did this incredibly articulate and intense man come from? How did he find the strength to be so critical of government; to be so unflinching in his demands for treatment and care for everyone who needed it? Where did he find the emotional and physical reserves to be so principled and uncompromising?

I was, quite simply, stunned in his presence.

Winstone's colleagues at AIDS-Free World and the countless people he assisted, influenced, and emboldened will forever be indebted to Winstone. Rest in peace, dear friend.

A memorial fund has been established at RESULTS, Inc., to provide financial support to Winstone's family. Winstone is survived by his wife, Vivian, and their four children, Michael, age 14; Waza, 11; Mwenda, 7; and Dan, 5. 100 percent of your generous contribution will go directly to Winstone's family in their time of need. Click here to contribute, to the memorial fund.

Read AIDS-Free World's remembrance of Winstone here.