Irish rock star Bono lashed out on Friday at governments which do not give antiretroviral treatment to HIV/Aids victims and to babies at risk of contracting the disease from their mothers.
”I’m speechless. I’m dumbfounded by the stupidity of a world that does not give antiretrovirals to babies… which also says: ‘That’s OK’ when the mothers of those babies are going to die without giving them the same treatment,” an emotional Bono said.
He was speaking after visiting Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on the outskirts of Soweto township, southwest of Johannesburg, with US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill.
The unlikely partners were in South Africa as part of a
four-nation fact finding tour on aid and development projects to consider the scale and shape of Washington’s future funding to the continent.
O’Neill backed Bono’s call for more Aids treatment, demanding to know why less than five percent of US funding to combat Aids in South Africa have been spent on it.
He said hospital staff told him that only two million dollars had been spent on treatment out of about $50-million donated to combat Aids in South Africa.
”What has happened to the rest of the money?” he asked.
Bono refused to criticise South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has questioned whether the HIV virus actually causes Aids and has been slammed by Aids activists at home for his reluctance to provide antiretrovirals.
Under huge pressure, the government did an about-face in April, acknowledging that the drugs can be useful and pledging to make them more widely available.
”I think there was a desire by Mbeki to get to the actual
statistics. I really feel South Africa is on the turn. We need to break away from the past and look towards the future,” Bono said.
Earlier he said he was ”on a fact finding mission to learn and listen. I don’t have to be an economist and take a position to the left or right. But I can spot injustice”.
After touring a housing project in Protea South, one of Soweto’s poorest areas, the rock star turned activist said he believed South Africa still had a long way to go to meet the needs of its people.
”People need antiretroviral drugs, they need things like clean water. Mister (Nelson) Mandela said it’s a long walk to freedom. People here are not free and South Africa still has a long way to go,” he said.
Bono, who was wearing a brown military shirt, combat trousers and his trademark wrap-around sunglasses, and O’Neill, in a light grey suit, were welcomed by a group of schoolchildren dancing to the tune of U2’s hit song ”Still haven’t found what I’m looking for”.
When the small radio cut out, Bono continued solo, singing the song to the sound of an African drum and clapping from residents.
They were given plaques to commemorate their visit to Soweto.
Then a group of youth leaders escorted Bono, who had his fist raised in the air, singing ”We are one people with you, Bono”.
The two men parted ways later in the afternoon, with Bono visiting a local Aids project, and having talks with members of the Aids action group, the Treatment Action Campaign, which last year took the South African government to court over the distribution of the antiretroviral nevirapine, while O’Neill visited the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Bono (41) and O’Neill (66) arrived in South Africa from Ghana on Thursday. They are due to leave at the weekend for Uganda and Ethiopia.
O’Neill has in the past described most aid to Africa as a waste of money because of mismanagement and abuse, whereas Bono has for years lobbied for the west to write off the massive debt of the world’s poorest continent.
According to Bono, he convinced a hesitant O’Neill to come and see for himself where aid programmes were working. – Sapa-AFP