A SOUTH African government minister is making a secret herbal medicine out of peach leaves to help treat Aids, the Sunday Times reported. It said the medicine was mixed and brewed in a hut on Public Works Minister Stella Sigcau’s property in the poor Eastern Cape province and had already been dispensed to at least one Aids sufferer. The newspaper said Sigcau had confirmed she was making Aids medicine, but said it was still ”in its very early stages” and added that she wanted to have it patented. ”I don’t want the whole world to know the ingredients. That’s why I am keeping it a secret. I believe traditional medicine may have a role to play in combating viral diseases and should be assessed,” the minister was quoted as saying. – Reuters