ETH/NAMM/0016

Gugu Dlamini is a pivotal figure when it comes to South Africa’s history of HIV/AIDS. At a time when there was there was a lot of ignorance, discrimination and misinformation about HIV/AIDS, former President Thabo Mbeki, “called for people to break the silence about HIV/AIDS to defeat the epidemic.” Gugu Dlamini took up that mantle. Gugu Dlamini was a volunteer for the National Association of people Living HIV/AIDS and, “a young woman from KwaMashu, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, who was dedicated to raising awareness around HIV/AIDS and fighting against the discrimination of infected persons.” It was this willingness to educate and play a part against the stigma of HIV/AIDS, which led to Dlamini disclosing her status: “On World AIDS Day, December 1, 1998, Dlamini disclosed her HIV status on television and on a Zulu-language radio station.” Her announcement had an adverse effect in her community in which she was already being ostracised and the disclosure of her status incited more rejection than acceptance as she was, “brutally assaulted by a mob, resulting in her death on 14 December 1998.”
The Gugu Dlamini Memorial Park is thus a memorial to the memory of Gugu Dlamini. The Park formerly known as Central Park, was renamed Gugu Dlamini Memorial Park on 1 December 2000, which coincides with World AIDS Day. At the Launch of the Stigma and Discrimination Campaign and Official Opening of the 7th South African Aids Conference, in 2015, former mayor of eThekwini James Nxumalo in his address outlined the two focus points of the Memorial Park: “The AIDS Ribbon is a giant Red Ribbon sculpture atop a brilliantly coloured mosaic mound where children play and, The Wall of Hope is a more intimate space dedicated to the memory of Gugu Dlamini.”
Former President Jacob Zuma unveiled the Aids Ribbon sculpture July 8 2000, the day before the start of the 13th International Aids Conference in Durban. The sculpture is in memory of those who succumbed to the disease. The Wall of Hope was made by Jeremy Wafer and Georgia Sarkin and, “conceived as a focal point of the rededicated park.” In a journal article of 2010, Sabine Marschall however highlighted some issues with regards to the Wall of Hope due to the vandalism that the Wall has suffered, “the disrespect and contempt expressed through the extensive and systematic nature of the destruction represents a metaphorical act of violation that echoes the original killing of Dlamini.”
References
‘AIDS activist stoned and stabbed to death by her neighbours,’ Available from: https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/aids-activist-stoned-and-stabbe... accessed 18 April 2021.
Marschall, S., ‘How to honour a woman: gendered memorialisation in post-apartheid South Africa,’ Critical Arts: A Journal of South-North Cultural Studies, Vol. 24, No. 2, 2010, pp. 260-283.
‘Welcome Address by the His Worship, the Mayor Cllr James Nxumalo on the occasion of the Launch of the Stigma and Discrimination Campaign and Official Opening of the 7th South African Aids Conference 09 June 2015 Gugu Dlamini Memorial Park,’ Available from: http://www.durban.gov.za/City_Government/mayor_council/speeches/June%202... accessed 19 April 2021.