They voted in the election their parents lived, fought, and died for. The future was theirs. Until now.

On the day in 1994 that Mjaliswe Mbuthuma voted in the impoverished rural Umzimkulu District in South Africa's first general election, he did not know he had AIDS. Mbuthuma, 29, had survived apartheid. His dreams of becoming a lawyer were buried under economic hardship. Instead he became a truck driver, living by his wits on treacherous roads, plagued with random criminal and political violence.

But it's the enemy he couldn't see that kills him now. Thousands more will die in the next few years. Grim statistics say that the numbers of AIDS cases in South Africa doubles every year.

For most there is nothing left to do except treat the resulting illnesses. There are no experimental drugs, no heroic efforts to prolong life. In rural areas testing facilities are as scarce as accurate information about the disease. For some, AIDS is just another incurable disease to deal with in a world where curable diseases are often fatal. AIDS is unnegotiable. AIDS is not selective about its victims. But the majority of victims in South Africa will be black because of the tragic legacy of poverty and illiteracy.

They leave behind grieving mothers and bewildered children and a country that needs them now more than ever before.