It has been almost four years since four PhD students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in the department of Culture, Communication and Media Studies (CCMS) initiated a survey in South African universities. The survey provides data about university students’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour towards HIV & AIDS. The ultimate objective of this project is to develop an advocacy framework that will influence policy and practice for the prevention of infection with HIV among South African university students.

South African universities, like many other institutions of higher learning, are 'enveloped' in the HIV & AIDS pandemic. There is strong evidence that the growing number of students in universities has led to some laxity in enforcing discipline in universities.(2) This has led to the prevalence of high risk sexual lifestyles, and of particular interest to this CAI brief is what is termed as a 'gold rush.' This is a phenomenon where senior students rush into sexual relationships with first year or new students. This CAI brief explores the concept of this 'gold rush' and its implications for the HIV & AIDS pandemic in South African universities.

The 'Gold rush' in South African universities

Empirical evidence shows that senior students either abandon their partners for the 'gold' - new students - or date both concurrently. The 'rush' into sexual relationships then puts students at risk as both partners, and the partners’ partners, know very little about each other’s past lives. Fanning the embers of the 'gold rush' is the fact that many of the new students come from single-sex schools and when they join the universities, they are overwhelmed by male and female students. In their naivety, they get into relationships and before they know it, they are engaging in sex.

It is also evident that upon entering universities, students are confronted with more freedom and space than they experienced previously. This increased freedom often makes students 'adventurous' in spite of being inexperienced with regards to university lifestyles. These include pressure some students face to adopt expensive lifestyles that encourage inequitable male-female power relationships. First year students appear to get easily carried away by university lifestyles. When new students arrive at the universities they seem innocent and academically purposeful, but soon change to 'fit into' university lifestyles.

Evidence indicates that female students easily succumb to the culture of the 'gold rush' because they want or need financial support to procure fashionable items like clothes, cell phones and shoes so that they are able to look 'cool' or in tune with university lifestyles. For female students, social status is acquired through their access to the 'latest' items and the ability to go for high class outings, eat nice food and other extravagances. By striving to acquire financial support for their 'luxuries,' students end up engaging in sexual risk behaviour as they quickly, but unskilfully “hook-up” with senior students or older partners without fully understanding what it entails. In addition, some students join universities as adolescents making it difficult for them to reject advances by senior students. Other students experience intense peer pressure to get partners so as to 'fit into' university lifestyles.

For most male students in universities, to engage in the 'gold rush' is considered a sign of success because only those who are 'resourceful' are able to relate to or acquire two or more girlfriends at the same time. Some male students take great pride in the 'gold rush.' They conceptualise the 'gold rush' as competition or fun. Sex, to such young men, is a game in which individuals compete for the highest number of new and young female students to have sex with. In these cases, the purpose of sexual relationships primarily informs an individual’s decision to engage in the 'gold rush.' Among students, the 'gold rush' is highly approved of and seen as a competition for superiority. For students, especially males, to be faithful is not considered a desirable option since they are not in relationships for marital purposes or based on whom they love, but because of the desire to prove their 'conquering' abilities. This is reminiscent of some South Africantraditions where a male’s having new and many sexual partners is celebrated as a symbol of success.(3)

Furthermore, social stratification for female students is tied to luxury accessories, whereas for male students it is associated with the ability to have 'cash', at least two beautiful sexual partners, and a 'key' or rather a car. Therefore, male students engage in risky sexual behaviour like the 'gold rush' to be perceived as real men or top dogs. Students with high social status are valued more than those with low social status by their peers. Many students do not want to be on the bottom of the campus social hierarchy. Occupying high status because of being able to engage in the 'gold rush,' and having access to luxurious items set the standards of trendsetters.

Interestingly, some students fall prey to the 'gold rush' because they join universities with preconceived ideas that universities are places to find a lifelong partner and that fellow students, like them, are HIV free. Shrouded in ignorance, the culture of 'gold rush' is accepted unquestioningly, and the fact that many of the relationships do not go beyond the university gates, and that the reality that each partner has concurrent partners outside of university are issues never dealt with. Thus, the culture of the 'gold rush' makes students victims – unwittingly or wilfully due to their ignorance and risky behaviour - to HIV & AIDS.

The level of risky sexual behaviour among students is alarming, but not hopeless. University induction programmes, such as that conducted by the Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria, use well organised and articulated programmes to sensitise students on sexual behaviours and practices that expose them to HIV & AIDS. A majority of the students join universities “tabula rasa” without knowledge of the risk of HIV & AIDS.

Concluding remarks

From the outset, new students should be educated about the structural context underlying the acting out of the 'gold rush' on campuses. Prevention strategies should address students’ personalities that include values, personal beliefs, expectations, attitudes, and orientations toward self and university life. They should also deal with perceived university environmental systems, which include perceptions of other people, especially friends’ attitudes toward sexual risky behaviour. The behavioural and biological factors that influence the 'gold rush', such as illicit substance abuse and age, race and gender respectively, should also be addressed.

In a nutshell, new students should be given skills and knowledge which will serve as buffers to allow them to live their sexual lives responsibly. Finally, there is also a critical need to develop education institutional structures, such as economic empowerment programmes targeting vulnerable students and life skills programmes to combat HIV & AIDS on university campuses.

NOTES:

(1) Given Mutinta is an External Consultant in Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s HIV & AIDS Unit ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
(2) Given Mutinta, 'Investigating students’ perceptions of sexual risk behaviour in relation to the response of entertainment education prevention programmes,' unpublished Doctoral Dissertation submitted to be the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.
(3) S. Leclerc-Madlala, “Transactional sex and the pursuit of modernity.” in Social Dynamics 29 (2) (2004): 1-24.