In a front-page editorial, Cape Town newspaper Die Burger on Wednesday called for an end to the government’s ”insanity” over Aids.
Editor Arrie Rossouw said that placing the editorial on the front page, directly below the masthead, was an unusual step.
”It is the strongest form of protest available to us to express the concern and disapproval of our editorial staff and our readers over the government’s handling of the crisis,” he said.
”This insanity must stop.”
Noting new statistics that more than 1 000 South Africans died daily from the consequences of Aids, the editorial called on President Thabo Mbeki to declare a national state of emergency, and to apologise to South Africans for not admitting the mistakes he had made over the disease.
The Burger editorial follows a comment on Tuesday by Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane that the government’s Aids policy was as great a disgrace as apartheid. – Sapa