South Africa: People With HIV Should Be Able to Fight for Their Country

16 September 2014

There is no reason people with HIV shouldn't be soldiers, says Tim Flack, who served in the navy and is the Western Cape representative for the South African National Defence Force Union.

I was 18 years old in 2007 when I attended the pre-selection phase for joining the navy. There were roughly 400 of us in the hall at a Durban military base. We were told that rapid HIV and hepatitis tests were to be carried out on us. If we tested positive, we should then go for a "proper blood test", but we would not be able to join the defence force.

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