When his peers made a bee line for big pay cheques and prestigious black gowns in private legal practice, Uyapo Ndadi gave it all up to plumb the murky depths of HIV\AIDS and human rights.
The greenhorn lawyer was all set: He had landed a job with one of the country’s most prestigious law firms, Collins Newman and Company. His eyes, however, were not on flashing a business card bearing the name of a respected law firm but on making a difference in the lives of ordinary people and shaping Botswana’s jurisprudence ÔÇô no matter the cost.
Ndadi’s decision was not a knee-jerk reaction. He had watched his close relatives succumb to HIV/AIDS. This stoked his passion to advance the cause of all persons living with the virus. The job was already cut out for him with Batswana turning up their noses at people living with AIDS and government not willing to protect the victims.
In 2007, after a short stint at Collins Newman & Company, Ndadi retraced his steps back to BONELA when an employment opportunity arose.
He was employed as a legal officer and at different times in the absence of the director acted in that position in which he would manage a staff compliment of 37, including volunteers. He was appointed the NGO’s executive director in February 2010 following the departure of his predecessor who resigned to join the AIDS Alliance in the United Kingdom.
His pursuit of human rights for the under privileged, HIV/AIDS victims and those at risk, such as sex workers and homosexuals, has made some people presume him HIV positive.
Others even suggested that he is gay because he speaks fearlessly about the need to give prison inmates condoms and defend gay rights. Such insinuations have not deterred him from championing human rights.
He reckons that his work is extremely difficult because while Botswana is credited with having the best programmes in the response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic, the government has on the other hand disregarded the human rights of those who are HIV positive and those who are mostly at risk, such as sex workers and homosexuals.
“Some of the issues are controversial in their nature owing to the fact that they are said to be unAfrican and immoral, for instance, advocating for men in prison to be given condoms so that they can protect themselves as it is clear that they indulge in sexual activities. By extension giving prisoners condoms is protecting the communities as inmates walk in and out of prison everyday”.
Ndadi believes that HIV and AIDS call for extraordinary interventions which the government and the society at times do not appreciate.
He points out that the stigma and discrimination attending the pandemic is making life difficult as people living with the virus are not free to open up to the society while others find it difficult to assert their rights for fear of further stigmatization as cases are heard in open court.
“Some clients do not want to be seen in BONELA cars as the cars are branded”, said Ndadi. He explained that┬ástigma and discrimination give birth to many problems including people deliberately infecting others saying they do not want to die alone while some will not take HIV tests and take medication because of the stigma.
While lesser mortals would have shriveled in the face of such gloom, Ndadi says it gives him joy to help those who did not have the means or the courage to help themselves. He has seen people, relatives and friends die of HIV and that prompted him to do something.
He has been instrumental in advocacy work, litigation and is also widely published. Ndadi has been a strong voice in challenging the government to come up with interventions that are inclusive in response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
Of note, in 2007 he petitioned government along with other 13 000 signatories to formulate a law aimed at protecting people living with HIV in the work place.
Prior to the petition, many workers were tested for HIV before employment and the courts ruled that there was nothing wrong in the law prohibiting such a practice. The predicament of those job seekers then was that if found to be HIV, the prospects of securing the job would die.
Uyapo takes pride in the fact that government took heed of his call by abolishing discrimination in the public service by passing a law protecting public servants in 2008.
Government also used to test foreigners seeking employment in the public service for HIV as a way of weeding out those who are HIV positive but the law has since stopped that practice.
Other things that used to worry Ndadi included government’s tendency to publicly condemn women living with HIV for having babies without giving them empowering information to make informed choices.
He has been able to engage government on the issue and government has now resorted to becoming more accommodative and non-judgmental in that it provides the public with information which empowers the public to make informed choices.
Ndadi has also been instrumental in condemning government’s decision to deny foreigners and prison inmates’ antiretroviral drugs for HIV and AIDS as the practice is inhumane and degrading. Currently he is working on taking cases to court in that front.
He has also lodged a case before the High Court challenging the constitutionality of sodomy laws as they are in his view driving gay men and lesbians underground and further away from HIV and AIDS interventions.
Ndadi has engaged government, including President Ian Khama, the Vice-President and Members of Parliament at high level forae on national interest debates.
He has been at the forefront of many groundbreaking cases in the area of HIV and AIDS which he did pro bono (for free). The cases were taken before the Industrial Court and the High Court where he managed to get the court to create new jurisprudence such as declaring that it is incompetent to dismiss any person from work on the basis of their HIV status.
For instance, in once case his client was dismissed s day after disclosing his HIV positive status to his employer. Many such clients were reinstated or compensated for their unlawful dismissal.
Ironically some of the cases were against government and interestingly he would on occasion receive cases from government officials including judges and registrars to help the disadvantaged.
He has also represented a woman who lived under the belief that she was HIV positive for two years and could not breastfeed her newly born baby as she was told that she could expose the baby to HIV. She endured the pain of being labeled a cheat by her husband who reasonably believed that she got HIV outside their marriage as he was negative and their previous children were also HIV negative.
The husband as a result abused and deserted her as she was unemployed and dependent upon him for sustenance. The woman came close to committing suicide. Ndadi however came to her rescue when he took his case after she discovered by sheer luck that she was in fact HIV negative and then sued government as the false diagnoses was made at government medical facility. She was awarded an unprecedented amount of damages in the sum of P150 000.
Ndadi has also represented a Zimbabwean national who was facing deportation from Botswana on the basis that he had multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Government was refusing to provide him with medication but in the end they did so after Ndadi took the matter to the High Court for intervention.
Although some Batswana criticized him for representing a foreigner, he held steadfastly to the notion that health sees no boundaries.
In another case that he pursued a woman who had disclosed another woman’s HIV positive status was ordered to pay damages by the court.
While he has been instrumental on HIV/AIDS related issues, he is nonetheless also a proponent of other human rights issues including legalizing prostitution saying it is a compelling view.
“The reasons against are mainly spiritual and cultural. I do not think we should go to the extent of deciding who should sleep with who and under what terms. We have better things to do than focus on that. What we do know is that because the trade is unregulated people do as they please hence the danger of increasing HIV spread and impact”, said Ndadi.
His views on homosexuality are also clear as he says the law should have no business in people’s bedrooms. “Just as heterosexuals can and should have sex however, so should be homosexuals. Homosexuals’ sexual activities are offensive to me. I have heard rumors doing the rounds that I should be gay because I am fighting for gay rights. I dare say whoever thinks so is selfish because it shows they only do things they stand to benefit from” said Ndadi.
As regards constitutional reforms, Ndadi said it is long overdue especially in ensuring that the rights that matter to the quality of life are entrenched in the country’s constitution.┬á┬á
“For instance, and contrary to popular belief, we do not enjoy the right education, health and work. The powers of the president need to be reduced greatly and we need to have many checks and balances in place because the president can appoint his preferred choice of judges and exercise his prerogative of mercy as he deems fit. The law on deportation where one can be deported without reasons gives me sleepless nights as it is not challengeable” says Ndadi.
On a parting shot Ndadi said he gets frustrated when Christians flag the morality card selectively explaining that some churches are the hubs of immorality with priests being implicated in sex scandals and marriages breaking down inside the church because of the infidelity perpetrated by brothers and sisters without anyone talking about it.
“As a lawyer, I come across many divorce cases originating from cheating inside the temple of God. But once people like me, RreMogae, Minister of Health Rev. Seakgosing and lately Rev. Hambira, Archbishop Desmond Tutu talk about protecting the vulnerable, we are deemed to be ministers of immorality. That is greatly unfair as no one is endowed with power to pass judgment. We also need to appreciate that this country belongs to all of us, not only Christians. The true measure of democracy and maturity is measured by how much we embrace diversity”, concluded Ndadi.
