Cape Town | Tuesday
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki returns to the National Assembly on Wednesday to field questions from MPs, with the official opposition hoping he will use the opportunity to end the controversy over HIV/Aids.
Mbeki, who is not an MP, answers questions in Parliament once every quarter.
Opposition Leader Tony Leon on Tuesday said he hoped Mbeki would use the opportunity to end the HIV/Aids controversy and open a new chapter of government.
”I look forward to a time when we accept that HIV/Aids is a humanitarian disaster and a significant threat to our survival as a nation.”
Leon will on Wednesday again tackle Mbeki’s controversial views on HIV/Aids in the light of the Medical Research Council’s latest report that an estimated 40% of deaths among 15-49 year olds last year was due to HIV/Aids.
He wants to know whether the president will review his request to Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to re-evaluate health expenditure according to statistics compiled in 1995.
In a statement, Leon said Mbeki’s public statements concerning HIV/Aids had shaped an environment in which critics of his views, no matter how well-qualified or well-intentioned, were labelled as racist conspirators, making it difficult for members of his own government to disagree with him.
This had made the implementation of effective anti-Aids policies extremely difficult.
”Members of his Cabinet, his government and his party devote time better spent elsewhere to defending the President,” Leon said.
Unlike many problems the government faced, putting an end to the controversy over the Aids crisis would be relatively simple.
”It would require an unambiguous statement on the President’s part that Aids is caused by infection with HIV, followed by the announcement of some decisive policies to indicate that the Aids epidemic is being taken seriously.” – Sapa