STEVEN MANN AND REUTERS, Cape Town | Thursday
DOES President Thabo Mbeki believe that HIV causes Aids? Quizzed about the issue for the umpteenth time in Parliament, Mbeki has again resorted to verbal gymnastics to avoid giving a definitive answer to the question.
“The programme of the government in this country is based on the thesis that HIV causes Aids,” Mbeki said.
He then added: “Aids is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. I don’t believe it’s a sensible thing to ask: ‘Does a virus cause a syndrome?’ It can’t. A virus will cause a disease.
“The syndrome is a group of diseases as a result of immune deficiency. As a result of immune deficiency you suffer various diseases,” Mbeki said. “I have no problem that this virus contributes to the collapse of the immune system.”
An estimated 4,2 million people – or 10% of the population – are HIV positive. Mbeki’s utterances have been criticised by Aids workers, who claim he is hampering efforts to combat the disease.
Mbeki conceded: “I would agree that all of us – the way we have handled this matter – might have resulted in this confusion.”
Meanwhile the Human Rights Commission is considering asking the courts to rule on what government’s obligations towards people with HIV/Aids are.
“We are investigating some complaints as to whether government is making appropriate medicine available to people suffering from this condition,” the commission’s chairman Barney Pityana told a parliamentary media briefing. “Everybody, whatever their medical condition, has a right not be discriminated against.”
Mbeki and his cabinet have refused to acknowledge that HIV is the sole or primary cause of Aids and the president has appointed an international panel, including controversial scientists who doubt the existence of Aids, to research the link.
“The basic problem is that many people don’t want to study this question. They are perfectly happy to repeat what is said to be the conventional wisdom,” he said.
Aids activists have condemned his sceptical stance, saying he is undermining efforts to halt the spread of the virus.