Khabzela

The central question raised by this timely and compelling biography is why Fana Khaba, aka Khabzela, a popular South African DJ and youth icon who succumbed to AIDS, did not take anti-retroviral medication to save his own life. The answer reveals a lot about many South Africans' understanding of AIDS as well as the mendacity of the government's approach to the disease. More than just the retelling of a young celebrity's life, this story explores several facets and conditions of modern South Africa and its culture, emphasizing the fragility of the frontier generation whose development has been damaged by years of struggle.

Talks about the life and perplexing death of Fana Khaba, a youth icon whose brief life mirrors that of the first generation to reach adulthood after liberation. Khaba managed against all the odds to fulfill his dream of becoming a DJ. No sooner had he achieved this, than he fell ill with AIDS."Khabzela" by Liz McGregor, concerns the brief life and perplexing death of Fana Khaba, a.k.a. Khabzela, a youth icon whose brief life mirrors that of the first generation to reach adulthood after liberation. Born and brought up in dire poverty in Soweto, he managed against all the odds to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a DJ. No sooner had he achieved this, than he fell ill with AIDS. The central question of this timely and astonishing book is: why didn't he take anti- retrovirals and save his own life? Liz McGregor's search for an answer takes the reader on a journey through modern South Africa; the taxi wars and the birth of the kwaito generation, the negotiation of sexual relations in a world where sex can mean death and the flourishing of a new industry of miracle-peddlers feeding off the AIDS epidemic. Edwin Cameron, author of "Witness to Aids", comments: "Liz McGregor's account of the choices and circumstances that caused this talented and visionary young man to die, when he could have had life, is riveting and deeply moving".