We interviewed 15 South Africans seeking HIV testing to understand the factors that influenced their seeking an HIV test. Reasons in favour of testing included having had unprotected sex, availability of social support if testing HIV positive and modelling test-seeking behaviour to others. Reasons against seeking testing included fear testing HIV positive, the possibility of receiving treatment too late, HIV-related stigma and long distances to testing sites. Participants also discussed ways to increase the uptake of HIV testing, such as workplace testing, the role of the media and the role of cultural rituals such as male circumcision.