The KwaZulu-Natal doctor who faces a disciplinary hearing for giving dual-therapy drugs to babies at risk of HIV infection should be hailed as a hero, a doctors' organisation said on Wednesday. "To discipline him for doing his ethical duty is disgraceful," the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society said in a statement.

The battle to lead the African National Congress (ANC) pits an Aids dissident against a rival who took a shower as a form of safe sex, in a country that has the world's highest rate of HIV infections. The ANC is electing its new leaders at a conference in Polokwane, Limpopo, that starts on Sunday.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) failed to pose critical questions when reporting on the South African Communist Party 's (SACP) R500 000 missing donation saga, MPs heard on Tuesday. SACP member Sizwe Shezi told the National Assembly's communication committee that the public broadcaster's current reporting style left much to be desired.

Police and health workers in Papua New Guinea launched an investigation on Tuesday into reports that people living with Aids in the rugged South Pacific nation were being buried alive by their relatives. Romanus Pakure, deputy director of the government's National Aids Council, said the allegations were "a wake-up call".