Swazi leader discloses HIV status

The Swaziland AIDS Support Organisation (SASO) on Monday praised Chief Madelezi Masilela for disclosing his HIV status. The chief told a community meeting at the weekend he had been living with HIV for four years. As representatives of King Mswati III, the county's 350 chiefs are treated with respect by their subjects. Masilela is the first known chief to publicly acknowledge his HIV-positive status. "We have been waiting a long time for a top traditional leader to step forward as an example. People pay attention when a chief speaks," SASO president, Hannie Dlamini, told the UN news service PlusNews. Dlamini, who in 1994 became the first Swazi to publicly declare he was HIV-positive, said Masilela had shown true leadership.