HIV MIGHT VERY WELL CAUSE AIDS - MBEKI By Khathu Mamaila and Robert Brand The Star (South Africa) September 14 2000 at 09:40PM (front page) The government on Thursday moved to quell the growing controversy around President Thabo Mbeki's stance on HIV and Aids. Advertisements seeking to clarify the views of the President and Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on whether HIV causes Aids have been placed in Friday's newspapers. This follows the publication on Thursday of a confidential document written by leaders of the ANC's national health committee calling on Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang to acknowledge that HIV causes Aids. Tshabalala-Msimang last week clashed with Radio 702 talkshow host John Robbie when Robbie insisted that she explain whether she believes HIV causes Aids. The adverts also follow the admission earlier this week by Essop Pahad, the Minister in the President's Office, who is the political head of the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), that he had failed to communicate Mbeki's stance on the link between HIV and Aids effectively. The ANC's parliamentary whips have also written to Mbeki asking him to brief the party's parliamentary caucus in an effort to clear up misunderstandings about the government's policy on HIV and Aids. The adverts, which are an attempt to "put the issue beyond doubt in the public mind", were placed by the GCIS. They say "neither the president nor his cabinet colleagues have ever denied a link between HIV and Aids". "This is made clear if one refers to the full transcript of the president's interview last week with Time magazine," the advert asserts. "The published edited version in Time, on which many critics now depend, conflated his remarks in a way which could give rise to a misunderstanding over his use of the word 'no' after being asked if he was prepared to acknowledge that there was a link between HIV and Aids. "In fact, the president went on to say 'you cannot attribute immune deficiency solely and exclusively to a virus'. The context of the full transcript makes it expressly clear he was prepared to accept that HIV might 'very well' be a causal factor. "The president went on to say 'Aids is a syndrome. It's a whole variety of diseases which affect a person because something negative has happened to the immune system. If the scientists come back and say this virus is part of the variety of things from which people acquire immune deficiency, I have no problem with that. But to say this is the sole cause, therefore the only response to it is anti-retroviral drugs--I am saying we will never be able to solve the Aids problem." The ANC also moved on Thursday to reverse perceptions of discord within the ruling party over the issue. The party said the confidential document written by leaders of its national health committee did not reflect the ANC's official view. However, it said policy on HIV and Aids was not cast in stone and would continually be debated within the organisation. The document, part of which was leaked to The Star this week, reflects concern among ANC members about Mbeki's ambiguous statements on the disease, which affects more than four million South Africans. Neither Mbeki's office nor Tshabalala-Msimang would comment on the developments when approached on Thursday, saying they were internal ANC matters. ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama did not deny the authenticity of the health committee document, but said it did not reflect "the views or policies of the ANC, its leadership structures, committees or organs". It was an "internal discussion document that reflects the views of its author". The document's author is the deputy chairperson of the ANC's national health committee, Confidence Moloko. The committee is a policy unit intended to advise the health minister and the party's national executive committee on policy. It does not have decision-making powers but has great influence within ANC decision-making structures. Ngonyama said the leaking of the document was part of "a concerted campaign that seeks to create perceptions of divisions within the ANC". He said the document would be subjected to debate and "further consolidation and even reformulation if need be". http://www.iol.co.za/html/frame_news.php * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ANC STATEMENT ON MEDIA REPORTS BY THE CAPE TIMES AND THE STAR Issued by African National Congress 14 September 2000 The views stated in the document contained in extracts from the CapeTimes and the Star do not reflect the views or policies of the ANC,its leadership structures, committees or organs. Thus, it (the document) remains an internal discussion document that reflects the personal views of the author.It will be subject to debate, critical scrutiny, further consolidation and even reformulation if needs be. The manner in which policy is formulated in the ANC is inclusive, open, accessible and robust.This entails entertaining various views on any subject, discuss and debate such views intensely, throughout the structures of the ANC, from the branches, committees to the National Executive Committee, to inform the course of debate. Thus, the process undertaken in this instance is not different from the usual procedures we follow and the current debate is not treated differently. The ANC believes that no new mileage can be gained from a concerted campaign that seeks to create perceptions of divisions within the ANC, whenever issues of this nature are raised.The perpetrators of this campaign should rather focus on seeking to understand the nature of our organization, specifically the processes of policy formulation. For the record, the ANC is a democratic organization that prides itself in allowing all opinions to be tabled, discussed and entertained on any particular issue, including the subject at hand, in the interest of inculcating a culture of robust and vibrant debate, and this document is not exempt from that culture. Issued by the Head of the Presidency: Smuts Ngonyama * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MBEKI'S STANCE PARALYSES FIGHT AGAINST HIV-AIDS Financial Mail (South Africa) 15 September 2000 EDITORIALS The kerfuffle between the Minister and the talk show host would be hilarious were it not so serious. For what is at stake is not so much bruised egos or loss of face on either side, but that lives are needlessly lost because the President of this country, for reasons best known to himself, and regardless of the scientific evidence, has cast doubt on the causal link between HIV and Aids. Hovering over John Robbie's acrimonious interview with Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was President Thabo Mbeki's unhealthy interest in and increasingly bizarre views on Aids. Mbeki's stance has put his Minister of Health in an untenable position. If any evidence were needed that Mbeki's view had paralysed government's efforts to fight the disease, Tshabalala-Msimang's obfuscation provided it. For the Health Minister of an Aids-ravaged country not to believe in the link between HIV and Aids is akin to a Christian who doesn't believe in the Virgin birth. Why waste money on treating the disease if you don't believe in its causal link? Why advocate the use of condoms? More important, what message does this send to the public? The tragedy, though, is that Tshabalala-Msimang does not agree with her leader's perverse view on Aids, but dares not say so in public. It is ironic that Mbeki should be holding views that undermine the fight against a disease which takes its greatest toll among the poor, at a time when he is gaining an international reputation as a standard bearer for the underprivileged. There is growing alarm within the ANC alliance at government ambivalence over the epidemic. Let's hope this helps to change Mbeki's mind. http://www.fm.co.za/00/0915/toptail/bedop.htm * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MBEKI TOLD TO COME CLEAN ON AIDS POLICY Mail & Guardian (South Africa) AFP and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 15 September 2000 PRESSURE is mounting for President Thabo Mbeki and his health ministry to publicly state that HIV causes Aids and to clarify what steps the government will be taking against the fatal disease. While 200 chanting activists demonstrated against Mbeki's Aids policy near parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday, a confidential policy document written by the African National Congress health committee was leaked to the media. The ANC committee calls on the government to clarify its ambiguous policy. The mostly female demonstrators were members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) which wants the government to urgently implement an anti-Aids drugs programme to stop mother-to-child transmission of the virus. Mbeki and his health ministry have refused to make anti-retroviral drugs freely available at public hospitals, with the president saying the drugs' efficacy has not been proven and it could be toxic. Some four million South Africans are said to be infected with HIV. The protesters said Mbeki should not only reconsider making drugs available for economic reasons, but he should take moral factors into account as well. "The vast majority of the women and children affected by the disease are black and poor. By refusing them treatment government is saying that poor black people do not matter. This is immoral," one protester said. The Cape Times reports that a confidential document written by members of the ANC's national health committee calls on the government to publicly acknowledge that HIV is the cause of Aids. "We have identified the cause [of Aids]. The infectious agent is HIV, which is a retrovirus," the document says. "The predominant scientific view that HIV causes Aids is the view that the ANC, its leadership and its membership has to publicly express." Both Mbeki and Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang have recently refused to say whether they believe HIV causes Aids, but strangely, also deny saying that the virus is not the cause of the syndrome. The draft document, which has been sent to Mbeki's office, Tshabalala-Msimang and other senior ANC officials, has already caused a fallout in the organisation. "The [health] minister was furious and demanded that we withdraw the document," says a member of the committee who asked not to be named. "We refused because this is a moral stand that we need to take." The ANC's health committee reports to secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe. It does not have decision-making powers, but is intended to advise the health ministry on policy. Although Tshabalala-Msimang is the committee's chair, deputy chair Confidence Moloko effectively runs the group. Moloko, who wrote the document, says it does not reflect the official views of the ANC. "This is a confidential discussion document intended to stimulate debate within the organisation," Moloko says. "There is nothing secretive about it but it is only intended for people in the ANC. We are not ready to release it to the public yet." http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/news.html#mbeki * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ROBBIE SAYS SORRY Mail & Guardian (South Africa) 15 September 2000 Radio 702 talk-show host John Robbie apologised to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang at the start of his programme on Wednesday. Robbie said he had not been under any pressure from the station's owners, Primedia, to apologise for last week's acrimonious interview with the minister. He said he listened to the interview again and realised that he had been "rude and unprofessional" in slamming down the telephone. "No rudeness was intended, I lost my temper out of frustration," he said. "The interview was robust and lively. I don't believe there was anything wrong with the line of questioning and I still believe the minister's performance was poor." The African National Congress has backed down from its demand for his dismissal. Regarding the ANC's objections over his use of her first name, Robbie said: "I would not have used the minister's first name if I had known she would be offended." The fact that the issue had led to a national controversy was a surprise, Robbie said. "It's now time for us to move on...what we should be concentrating on is the fight against Aids and other things". He repeated a request for the minister to come into the studio for a second interview on the government's policy on HIV/Aids. http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/news.html#mbeki * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Aids issue: ministers duck and dive Independent Onlive September 15 2000 Trevor Manuel, the finance minister, on Friday joined the list of cabinet ministers drawn into the controversy surrounding the government's stance on whether HIV causes Aids. Although Manuel stressed he did not want to get into the subject, he did say he believed "there is evidence to suggest" HIV did cause Aids. There was also evidence to show that other aspects, such as poverty, "accelerate" the conditions associated with the disease. "Bodies that are weaker are more susceptible to that condition."
Kader Asmal, the education minister, refused to elaborate on the same topic when quizzed by journalists on Tuesday. Briefing the media at parliament, he said the fight against the Aids pandemic was one of the government's priorities. Journalists at the briefing were persistent in trying to establish whether he believed HIV caused Aids, but Asmal avoided replying, saying he "was not going to be cornered". Jeff Radebe, the public enterprises minister, was delighted on Thursday when reporters chose not to query him on the subject.
In a report on Friday, the Mail & Guardian said it had asked all cabinet ministers their views on the assumption that HIV caused Aids. Several ministers chose not to respond, while other preferred to fax a statement from the government communication and information Service (GCIS), it said. GCIS has launched an advertising campaign in several local newspapers to clarify statements made by President Thabo Mbeki and Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the health minister, on the subject. It says in the advertisement that neither Mbeki nor his cabinet colleagues had ever denied a link between HIV and Aids. It followed the publication of a confidential document written by leaders of the African National Congress' national health committee, calling on Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang to acknowledge that HIV causes Aids. Mbeki has come under fire for appearing to doubt that HIV causes Aids, and for appointing Aids dissidents who deny this link to serve on his special advisory panel on the disease. Tshabalala-Msimang and Radio 702 talk show host John Robbie were last week involved in an on-air row, when the minister refused to disclose her opinion on whether HIV causes Aids. - Sapa
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