Ms Beetroot and the salid stand

The government of South Africa has moved from denial to betrayal regarding their handling of the AIDS epidemic in the country. Gregg Gonsalves of the AIDS Rights Alliance of Southern Africa slammed the government's lack of leadership in this tragic epidemic, according to Allafrica.com.

The Minister of Health, Ms Tshabalala-Msimang, also known in media circles as Ms Beetroot, appears unperturbed and defiant at the strong condemnation of her handling of the AIDS epidemic. Ms Tshabalala-Msimang reckons the country is doing well, reports News24. Indeed.

With 5.5 million people HIV positive and about 1000 dying per day of AIDS, South Africa is doing very well, isn't it? The report on AIDS in SA by Avert.org makes for chilling reading. From 1994 when the ANC came to power until today, the prevalence of HIV in pregnant women has increased from 4.3% to 30.2%. During the same time, the government has gone through several phases of denial.

First, the president, Mr Thabo Mbeki, demonstrated immense difficulty in accepting established medical evidence that the HI virus is the cause of AIDS. Instead, the president flirted with rogue medical reports that other factors such as poverty and malnutrition are causes of AIDS. In doing so, Mr Mbeki demonstrated the common statistical confusion of false correlation.

While conducive conditions will correlate with a certain outcome, such conditions are not synonymous with causality. While poverty is often conducive to contracting the HIV virus and in turn poverty as well as malnutrition are conducive to developing AIDS from the HIV virus, it does not follow that poverty and malnutrition cause AIDS. Apparently, this train of logic has proven beyond the capacity of the president.

Second, the current Minister of Health, Ms Beetroot, to use her common media-title, has embarked upon a crusade to bolster agriculture by propagating a policy of traditional African remedies, such as olive oil, garlic and beetroot to address the AIDS condition. Perhaps the president should offer Ms Beetroot a post in the Department of Agriculture.

At the Conference on AIDS held in Toronto last week, the South African stand at the exhibition comprised of some posters and a display of wilted agricultural products, resembling a salad stand according to IOL. The condemnation from both South African NGO's such as Treatment Action Campaign and international figures like UN special AIDS envoy Stephen Lewis, was venomous.

It would appear as if the South African government has entrenched itself in an African vs. Western war of ideas. With a stubbornness that defies common sense the government peddles on while the grim realities of AIDS marches on relentlessly through the South African society and economy.

As the Minister defends her position with the smugness of a cat on a sofa, the victims of AIDS wilt with the beetroot on the salad stand.