People listen to Mandela

Annie Lennox on Africa's 'moral titan'.

Annie Lennox

ANDREW MARR: Welcome.

ANNIE LENNOX: Thank you.

ANDREW MARR: Thank you for coming in.

Let's talk about the, the Aids work that you've been doing and Nelson Mandela's been doing.

Because this has been a sort of horrendous plague across the southern half of the African continent now for a very long time. You've been out there a lot.

You've been back and forth a lot. You've been raising money a lot. People sometimes on this, in this country and in the West generally believe there's nothing that can really be done.

You know it's, it's bleeding heart singers.

It's, you know you can raise a bit of money, you can help at the edges. Is there any proper grounds for hope?

ANNIE LENNOX: Well yes. I mean it does often look like a despairing situation because it is so overwhelmingly affecting millions of people. And I don't really think there's a simple solution.

There's not a magic wand that you can wave because it's extremely complex. But if you look at it in terms of when people do get access to treatment that their lives can be extended. If a pregnant woman does get access to treatment with her baby perhaps it's very possible that the virus doesn't have to be transmitted to that baby before it's even born. And there are a lot of poss.. possible things that can be done.

But of course it's dependent on the will and leadership of the government and the intention of whole nations to make changes. And when you have systems where the whole medical systems are buckled on their knees you know and you have tremendous lack of course with poverty, unemployment, all the issues that come with these difficult complex additions to, to the situation itself, it's, it is very complex. But things can be done and are being done actually.

ANDREW MARR: We've actually got a little clip, piece of footage of you going to South Africa and meeting a young child with HIV.

ANNIE LENNOX: Yes.

ANDREW MARR: This - interesting. Just watch this for a second.

ANNIE LENNOX: Thank you.

VT

ANDREW MARR: So the drugs do work?

ANNIE LENNOX: The drugs work. The drugs do work. And actually I was reading the data report last night and there have been differences made. I think people do need to know that. For example twenty six milj... million children have been immunised between the years two thousand and one to two thousand and six.

I mean that, that's a sub.. significant figure. And for example fifty nine million bed nets have been delivered last year to Africa which means that there'll be protection against malaria. So with the will and with the push it is possible to make huge changes. The solutions are not so simple. That is really ..

ANDREW MARR: No.

ANNIE LENNOX: .. the core.

ANDREW MARR: We were talking about Nelson Mandela during the paper review, a great moral titan around the world. With this hideous, hideous thing that's going on in Zimbabwe wouldn't it be wonderful if he could, if he could say something?

ANNIE LENNOX: I agree. I think, I think that people always listen to Mandela because he does have that moral authority. And let's wait and see.

ANDREW MARR: Let's wait and see.

ANNIE LENNOX: Let's wait and see.

ANDREW MARR: Cos he's a, this is, this may well be his final public appearance, in fact.

ANNIE LENNOX: Yes. I mean it's, you know for, for a man in his approaching now, it'll be his ninetieth birthday, he's done more than anyone else in a whole lifetime, really that is the extraordinary thing about Mandela is that he devoted his whole life to the fight of justice and human rights. And those kind of people are very thin on the ground. So when Mandela steps back from his stately role there are so few people to fill, to fill his shoes you know.

ANDREW MARR: I must ask you one music question. The new album's been going well. I mean are you in a sort of a new groove as a performer? Do you, is your mojo working Miss Lennox?

ANNIE LENNOX: I hope my mojo's still working. I love music and it's something that I'll always be part of. And I continue to do, I try to do the two things. I try to, to fuse the music that I make and the platform that I have with some, with a message.

Which is I think, most of us, most artists, especially in times where there are so many things needing to be addressed outside of, you know, the narrow constrictions of government messages where we can, you know, there is activism and there's a great many millions of people around the world who are involved with trying to make change outside of the narrow government view.

ANDREW MARR: We all need a bit of redemption which is what we're going to be hearing from you in a ..

ANNIE LENNOX: Yes.

ANDREW MARR: .. moment but for now before that over to Sonia for the news headlines.

INTERVIEW ENDS

Please note "The Andrew Marr Show" must be credited if any part of this transcript is used.

NB: This transcript was typed from a recording and not copied from an original script.

Because of the possibility of mis-hearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, the BBC cannot vouch for its accuracy

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