This week Siyayinqoba Beat It! examines how different types of sexual relationships play a role in driving the HIV epidemic. Transactional sexual relationships – where the giving of gifts or services is important – are common in South Africa. These may involve relationships between older men and younger women or girls. Our CJs speak to one group of young women to find out why they accept gifts from older men in exchange for sex. Concurrent sexual relationships – where one person has multiple sexual partners at the same time – are also high risk behaviour. We meet a young HIV positive man in KZN to find out how having multiple concurrent sexual partners has affected his life.
In Khayelitsha in the Western Cape a group of young women agree that they don’t want to be with men who cannot provide. Some of these women have sexual relations with a “provider” in addition to their regular boyfriends. Poverty is a major driver of this type of behaviour and women may go to different providers for different needs, which may include clothes, rent and cell-phone expenses. The experiences of these women suggest that older men are better able to provide support, while younger men are less reliable.
However the dependency factor in these relationships may compromise the woman’s right to condom negotiation. Mzikazi Nduna, an expert from Wits University, categorizes men willing to be involved in transactional sex as “high risk”. This means they do not like using condoms, have many girlfriends, have undermining attitudes towards women and tend to be involved in sexual violence. This endangers the women who engage in such relationships and also forms networks of risky behaviour through which HIV may be spread.
Sexual networks made up of individuals who have more than one partner at the same time are common in South Africa and are a major driver of the HIV epidemic. Siyabonga Ngcobo, from KZN, was a young boy at school when he was first encouraged by friends to compete to see who could get the most girls: “I grew up with the mentality that you can’t have just one.” Now an adult, Siyabonga has had sexual relationships with many women. He is the father of five children, each by a different mother. When the mother of his last child tested positive for HIV, Siyabonga also tested and learned that he too is positive.
Siyabonga says he only saw the importance of condom use after he tested HIV positive. Now he hopes people learn “the importance of protecting themselves and their partners.” Mzikazi Nduna believes various factors drive multiple concurrent and transactional relationships. These include poverty, social norms and the rural to urban migration which many South Africans undertake to find work. In South Africa it is imperative to reduce the number of new infections. Youngsters should be taught early about the risks and learn positive social norms. Men must change their attitude towards women and relationships should be based on mutual respect rather than dependency and conquest.