The apparent détente between the national Health Department and the Treatment Action Campaign is to be applauded, but will it stick?
African National Congress national executive committee member Zweli Mkhize was putting it mildly when he said on Friday he was aware there was “quite a lot” of strain between the government and the activists.
He told delegates to the TAC’s fourth national congress that he hoped “we could bury that as a chapter of the past”.
“We hope that we will try to reduce all the tensions … and bring us to a point where we will move forward as one army taking on one common enemy,” he added.
He said one of the decisions the ANC had taken at its Polokwane conference was to “elevate health issues and HIV and education to the top priority”.
Why this was not done sooner is anyone’s guess, but it’s probably better late than never.
Mkhize also said that the problem with HIV/Aids rested squarely on those who were HIV-negative, “because if you are positive, you are very conscious of what you are doing, and if you are negative, you think you will never be positive. So I hope in your discussions you can find a way to fight HIV at a local level and deal with the problem of those thinking it cannot affect them.”
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka also addressed the conference, and called on “real” South African men to speak out about HIV.
Of course Mlambo-Ngcuka, as well as axed deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, were seen as proactive forces and friends of the TAC and led the development of the HIV/Aids national strategic plan.
Not so Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who, while her name appeared on the TAC’s line-up of speakers, did not address the conference.
Why? Change needs to be led from the top, and while there may be any number of soothing words from others, the minister missed an important opportunity to set aside finally the divisiveness that has marked her government’s relationship with the TAC.
| FULL SPEED AHEAD |
NOT SO FAST |
Phyllis Spira
South Africa’s most famous ballerina, who died aged 64 in Cape Town this week, was a proud ambassador of her home country and, after retiring, ran dance programmes for youths in Guguletu, Nyanga and Khayelitsha. Her devotion will be missed. |
 Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer, now the former governor of New York, fell on his sword on Wednesday in the wake of allegations that he had spent tens of thousands of dollars on sex workers. This, however, does not appear to be about sex; rather, it smacks of a man drunk on power. Now that he has resigned, he’ll just have to explain his behaviour to his three teenage daughters. |
Most-read stories
March 6 to 12
1. Zuma asserts ANC power over Mbeki
African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma asserted, in an interview published on Friday, that power in South Africa rests with the ruling party, not with his rival, President Thabo Mbeki.
2. Concourt: Zuma’s last stand
African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma will get a last chance next week to convince a court that potentially damaging evidence seized from him and his lawyer in 2005 should not form part of his corruption trial.
3. More race torture at Free State varsity
Letters written by black students of the University of the Free State have highlighted the shocking racial abuse they suffered at formerly white residences integrated at the beginning of the year.
4. Zuma clarifies media ‘misrepresentations’
African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma on Monday sought to “clarify” recent statements of his, which he said had been misrepresented in the media, and denied having been “summoned” by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to explain some of them.
5. Mugabe in massive vote-buying handout
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has handed out millions of United States dollars’ worth of imported brand new agricultural equipment, vehicles, generators and cattle in what critics said was a massive vote-buying exercise ahead of elections this month.
6. Shackled Simon Mann names names
Wearing handcuffs and leg-irons in an African prison, the former SAS soldier who tried to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea in a coup d’état on Tuesday claimed the main instigator of the plot was the London-based Lebanese millionaire Ely Calil.
7. Zuma in court: ‘What should be in warrant?’
There is no statute determining exactly what provisions should be in a search warrant, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday as African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thint began a last-ditch bid to prevent key documents from being used against them.
8. Zuma stakes claim as president for the poor
Outside Luthuli House, yellow posters beg South Africans to save power. In the lobby of the African National Congress (ANC) headquarters, a veteran of the struggle against apartheid is asking to see “Baba”. The old man does not have electricity and would like to put his case to the party president. A receptionist shakes her head: “He comes often. We are always polite.”
9. After 13 years of Gates, enter the new richest man
It must count among the world’s most genial rivalries. Two of the planet’s richest men regularly play epic games of online bridge and collaborate over handing out their billions. But Warren Buffett has unseated his friend, Bill Gates, to become the wealthiest individual on the globe.
10. Govt halts Zuma’s legal payments
The South African government has suspended further payments of ruling party leader Jacob Zuma’s legal costs over his impending corruption trial, it was reported on Monday.
Read more
Our most-read stories for 2007
Our most-read stories for 2006
Our most-read stories for 2005