STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER

 

DR B.S.S DLAMINI

 

AT THE FAREWELL FUNCTION FOR DR D. VON WISSELL

 

AT THE CABINET OFFICES, MBABANE

 

ON WEDNESDAY 3 APRIL 2013

 

Dr Derek von Wissell

Ms Christabel Motsa

Honourable Ministers

Members of the NERCHA Council

Members of the Diplomatic Corps

UN Country Team Representative

Members of Civil Society

Members of the Private Sector

Ladies and Gentlemen

 

It is often painful to say goodbye. It is particularly so when you are fighting a formidable enemy and you lose a key player. Well, today we are saying goodbye to someone who has brought a great deal of skill, wisdom and judgement to fighting an enemy of the Nation. That enemy has, of course, been the HIV and AIDS pandemic. And the person I am talking about is Dr Derek von Wissell.

 But on this occasion, as Derek leaves what has been his professional home, NERCHA, for the past 12 years I feel we should all prefer to look upon this more as a celebration. Not only celebrating what Derek has done for NERCHA and the people of Swaziland in the fight against HIV and AIDS, but also for our having had the pleasure to work with one of the country’s most effective professionals.

It is an occasion to reflect on what Derek brought to arguably the most challenging humanitarian initiative in the Kingdom for many decades, perhaps more.

When the National Emergency Response Committee against HIV and AIDS (later a Council) was established in 2001 it was clear that in the crucially important process of recruiting a leader for this new initiative our decision would be critical to the success of the initiative. But selecting a suitable leader for the task did not prove to be too difficult.

As a man born and brought up in Swaziland, a citizen of the country and fluent in its language, a former Minister of a number of portfolios and member of a number of Boards, Derek von Wissell had built up a powerful curriculum vitae. His leadership skills were already clearly evident and he had left behind a trail of substantial achievements.

In 1994, while Minister for Health, at the time of the release of the first study on the Impact of HIV in the country, Derek had immediately responded by advocating a Government response and he became a very prominent advocate in those early years when our society was experiencing a significant degree of denial. He was clearly a man passionate about the need to address the pandemic in an effective manner.

Swaziland turned out to be cruelly hit by the HIV and AIDS pandemic and, in the days before reasonably cost-effective antiretroviral treatment, to have HIV was a death sentence. The pandemic was taking the lives of so many good people, destroying families and communities and doing a great deal of damage to the Swazi economy. To meet all expectations NERCHA needed a strong and capable leader. And it got one.

In the time Derek was at the helm, so to speak, NERCHA went from strength to strength and, in due course, has taken a great deal of credit for some of the exceptional achievements – the rolling out of ART to more than 80% of those eligible for treatment, and for reducing the PMTCT rate down to almost nil. Our multi-sector response and, in due course, the extent of community involvement has earned commendation from the highest echelons of the global HIV and AIDS leadership. The list of achievements is a long one.

Derek has shown that through partnerships and collaboration it is possible to achieve, if not the impossible, certainly the highly improbable.

There have been many functions at which I have extolled the achievements of NERCHA and other participants and stakeholders, as well as expressing gratitude to our generous development partners. Many people and institutions have done a terrific job in taking our National Response to exemplary levels of achievement.

I would like to take the opportunity, at this point, to make special mention of the contribution of Ms Christobel Motsa who has been good enough to join us today. Ms Motsa was the Chairperson of the Crisis Management Technical Committee (CMTC) which functioned between 1999 and 2001, and whose work effectively preceded that of its successor, NERCHA. Under Ms Motsa’s exemplary leadership, the CMTC brought together Government, civil society and our development partners, initiating the multi-sectoral response to the pandemic. And, in 2000, the CMTC produced the first National Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS. For your excellent work, Ms Motsa we do congratulate and thank you.

Clearly, the enormous strides made in the National Response has not been the work of one man, but today is Derek’s retirement day and he should be given credit for his part in all that has been accomplished.

Derek is conspicuously a man of humility and compassion, virtues matched only by a determination to speak his mind, especially when truths need to be publicly expressed.

And I would judge that high on Derek’s list of priorities was to help the unfortunate children made vulnerable or orphaned (OVCs) as a result of HIV and AIDS. Not only was this a humanitarian need but also a measure to prevent Swaziland having a dysfunctional society in the years to come. Among his most treasured achievements is addressing the plight of those children, and, as a result, today they are attending school in their thousands, being provided a hot meal at school and cared for through community systems including KaGogo Centres and Neighbourhood Care Points. Derek pioneered the revival of some of our fundamental traditions where Chiefs are planting fields using community resources to care for the vulnerable populations in their communities.

Great leaders not only apply their skills to the task at hand but also ensure that they themselves are not indispensable. They train others. Derek has done that admirably and leaves behind a high calibre team and national network of skilled and motivated people and processes that will enable him to retire comfortably in the knowledge that the standards he has set will be sustained.

On a personal level I believe that one of Derek’s most impressive features is the combination of fearless determination in saying, and then pursuing, what he believes to be right, and the refreshing lack of vanity in his character.

Derek has performed his duties admirably. I am here to express the thanks of His Majesty’s Government and, indeed, my own personal appreciation for the work Derek has done. But to that must be added the silent but deep and extensive gratitude of the many HIV-infected people and OVCs who have benefitted from the National Response that has gained such strength under Derek’s watch.

I cannot see the word “retirement” being of serious application to Derek von Wissell. But whatever lies before you, Derek, I speak for Government, partners, your team at NERCHA and all stakeholders when I say that we have greatly appreciated your excellent work and wish you good health, happiness and many years ahead in your retirement.

 

Thank you.