Umtata | Saturday
UNITED DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT leader Bantu Holomisa has called on President Thabo Mbeki to apologise to South Africans for the way he handled the HIV/Aids issue.
Holomisa in a Freedom Day speech in Umtata said after years of ”bungling, denial and outright lunacy” the reported ”new personal leadership” by Mbeki on HIV/Aids was refreshing, but was not enough to proclaim leadership.
”He must demonstrate it,” Holomisa said.
”He can do this by immediately and unreservedly apologising to the people of South Africa, especially the women who have until now been denied treatment for HIV/Aids in cases of rape, as well as the treatment that could save the lives of their unborn children.”
Holomisa said Mbeki’s ”apparent new commitment” was already undermined by his own comments that HIV/Aids was the result of a breakdown in communication.
”This is disingenuous, he (Mbeki) and many other high-ranking government and ANC officials directly and publicly questioned the link between HIV and Aids.
”Is he implying that all of us were too stupid to understand him?”
Holomisa said South Africa needed ”true leadership”, not spin doctoring.
”Mbeki must apologise to the public, retract the crazy documents, abandon the Constitutional Court appeal, and tell people like ANC election manager, Peter Mokaba, to stop using ANC and government platforms to peddle ideas that endanger millions of lives and embarrass South Africa in the international community.
”Most importantly he must implement with haste, and without further excuses, the scientifically accepted treatment that is available,” he said.- Sapa