[procaare] S.Africa to Change AIDS Message as Opposition Calls for Minister's Head

["AFP" <procaare@healthnet.org>]

S. Africa to change AIDS message as opposition calls for minister's head
Agence France Presse - August 24, 2006
Mariette le Roux
*****************

CAPE TOWN, Aug 24, 2006 (AFP) - The South African government acknowledged 
Thursday it was struggling to defend its AIDS policies as opposition parties 
and activists demanded the health minister's sacking.

While the country's main lobby group staged nationwide protests, the 
government dismissed "false allegations" levelled against it at an 
international AIDS summit last week.

"Various parties insinuated that the government didn't have a comprehensive 
programme on HIV and AIDS," government spokesman Themba Maseko told 
reporters after a fortnightly cabinet meeting held in Cape Town.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said, adding the government 
had increased spending on AIDS from 30 million rand (4.2 million dollars, 
3.2 million euros) in 1994 to more than three billion rand in 2005-06.

The UN special envoy on AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, told the Toronto 
conference that Pretoria espoused "theories more worthy of a lunatic fringe 
than of a concerned and compassionate state".

Struggling to have its voice heard above those of critics at home and 
abroad, the government on Thursday acknowledged it would have to pitch its 
AIDS strategy better if it wanted to win the argument in a country where 
more than one-tenth of the 47 million strong population is infected.

"Our responsibility is to find a better way of communicating the strategy so 
we are not seen to be over-emphasising one aspect," Maseko said, referring 
to criticism that it focused on nutrition and not on anti-AIDS drugs.

The comments came as South Africa's main anti-AIDS lobby group, the 
Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), staged a series of protests to demand the 
resignation of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

Tshabalala-Msimang, who advocates a diet garlic, beetroot, olive oil and 
African potatoes to fight AIDS, was ridiculed in Toronto when samples of 
these foodstuffs were displayed at a South African stall alongside 
anti-retroviral medicines.

Around 250 TAC activists gathered in Cape Town's St George's cathedral for a 
prayer session bearing placards reading "Fire Manto" and "Down with Manto".
"We are standing for a just society," said protester Patrick Godana.

The TAC claims that 1,000 South Africans are infected with HIV every day, 
while another 800 die at the same rate.

Its demands include the convening of an immediate national meeting to 
develop an HIV/AIDS crisis plan, and the provision of proper nutrition and 
anti-AIDS treatment to inmates.

The TAC has warned that this was the start of a programme of civil 
disobedience that would continue until its members prevailed. The campaign 
will involve occupying government buildings and disrupting meetings as well 
as lobbying the international community to put pressure on Pretoria, it 
said.

Six opposition political parties further ratcheted up the pressure on 
Tshabalala-Msimang by signing a petition calling for her dismissal by 
President Thabo Mbeki.
"The minister has caused enormous damage to South Africa's reputation and 
her counter-productive ideas on HIV/AIDS have led to unnecessary loss of 
life," said a joint statement issued by the parties.

"The minister of health's lack of leadership and at times bizarre ideas has 
actively undermined any attempts to address this crisis."

But the minister's spokesman, Sibani Mngadi, said she was not going 
anywhere. "Why should she resign? There is no reason for her to resign," he 
told AFP.

"I don't think the TAC can determine who must be in the cabinet in this 
country."
As for the opposition parties, Mngadi said: "They will always jump into 
whatever controversy to score political points."

Online: AEGIS.org