{"id":295430,"date":"2025-12-02T13:21:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/peoplespost\/?p=295430"},"modified":"2025-12-12T12:57:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:57:19","slug":"world-aids-day-south-africa-nozibele-qamngana-mayaba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/peoplespost\/world-aids-day-south-africa-nozibele-qamngana-mayaba\/","title":{"rendered":"World AIDS Day South Africa: Nozibele Qamngana-Mayaba calls for compassion and change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As South Africa marked World AIDS Day yesterday (1 December), HIV advocate, storyteller, author, wife and mother Nozibele Qamngana-Mayaba<\/a> urged communities to dismantle stigma, strengthen support systems, and embrace a transformed approach to HIV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

World AIDS day is an opportunity to reflect on these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s global theme, \u201cOvercoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response\u201d, highlights the ongoing challenges facing HIV prevention and treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to UNAIDS, funding reductions from international donors continue to threaten years of progress in the global HIV response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community-led services are being deprioritised, prevention programmes are disrupted, and punitive laws targeting LGBTQ+ people and drug users are restricting access to essential services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this day, the focus is on removing these barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hope at the centre of her message<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Despite these setbacks, Qamngana-Mayaba emphasises the power of honesty, compassion and solidarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy story is proof that healing is possible and that HIV does not define who you are,\u201d she says. \u201cCompassion, education, and honest conversations can transform lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Her journey: from silence to advocacy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Qamngana-Mayaba publicly disclosed her HIV story in 2019, after carrying years of silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI shared my HIV story publicly because silence was suffocating me,\u201d she says. \u201cOne day, I realised that the shame I was carrying was not mine. It was something society taught me to hold.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Recording that first video, she explains, was both terrifying and liberating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of World AIDS day has been significant in her journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A turning point came when a young woman messaged her to say hearing her story stopped her from taking her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat moment changed everything. I realised my healing was not only for me. It was meant to open doors for others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her Christian faith remains a foundational part of her healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod met me in my lowest moments with a love. Living openly with HIV has been an act of obedience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finding balance as a wife and mother<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Qamngana-Mayaba balances family life with advocacy, public speaking and ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBalance is not something I have mastered; it is something I practise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My husband and child ground me. They remind me that I am more than my work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nozibele
Nozibele Qamngana-Mayaba with her husband Skhumbuzo and child. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Authoring hope through her books<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Qamngana-Mayaba is now a four-time published author, using her writing to guide readers through identity, healing and faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She maintains open conversations with her family about the demands of her advocacy and includes them in prayers about her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her works include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n