Indeed the AIDS/HIV issue is an extremely controversial subject...
I certainly don't have all the answers, but I have recorded an overview of how the ANC has mismanaged AIDS.
o The AIDS/HIV crisis just SCRATCHES the surface of South Africa's problems, but it has in actual fact caused more deaths in South Africa alone than the number of deaths in World War One...
o PLEASE see the DA's article on Aids (see "Related Articles" above), for a very well worded account on South Africa's official opposition party's stance on AIDS/HIV...
NB: Very important. This article offers a snapshot of the AIDS situation around 2001/2002 in South Africa. It MAY require some updating. Some of the claims, e.g. "The government refuses to distribute Niveraphine" may now be incorrect.
Okay, let me begin with some hard evidence... here are the facts:
- The ANC has not assigned an Aids minister
(but the DA has, and the ANC has ignored the DA's call to assign one)
- Nelson Mandela has rapped Mbeki for his Aids approach
(See "Related Articles" above)
- President Thabo Mbeki still refuses to state that HIV is LINKED to Aids
- No provinces, except the 1 governed by the DA, offer free anti-retroviral drugs to the public, especially the AZT drug for Aids-infected mothers.
- South Africa has the highest Aids rate in the world
Between 5 and 7 million people will die from AIDS in the next 10 years
(Source: http://www.mrc.ac.za/annualreport/health.htm)
- Mbeki quoted 6 year old Aids statistics in his arguments to the UDM that "Aids isn't a problem in South Africa"
- Mbeki and his government intentionally held up the MRC report that proves/proved Aids is a problem in SA, while stating continuously, that Aids is NOT a problem in South Africa...
- The government is spending 240 times more money on weapons this year, than they are on Aids (this was around the Arms Deal Scandal which involved spending R66 Billion rand on the purchase of Arms. The Arms Deal is now complete, so this fact may be outdated)
- The government is spending 25 times more on weapons for the next 8 years, than they are on Aids for the next 8 years.
- Australia -- who hasn't ever had an Aids problem -- initiated it's Aids plan in 1991 -- that's 10 years ago!... The South African government only initiated it's Aids plan this year
Having said that, why won't the government start taking responsibility: EVER?
- 1) First they said Aids isn't a problem.
- 2) Then they blocked the report that proves them wrong
- 3) Then they quoted 6 year old statistics to argue that Aids isn't a problem (again!)
- 4) Then they (but not Mbeki) blamed apartheid, and then (Mbeki) blamed poverty.
- 5) The ANC government refuses to offer free Aids drugs in the provinces they govern (7 of 9 provinces)
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- 6) The ANC fires/sacks Aids councilors who dissagree with Mbeki's views that HIV doesn't cause Aids.
- 7) The ANC spends 240 times more money on weapons, than they do on the 10 million dying people of their country.
- 8) The ANC is yet to appoint an Aids minister.
- 9) The ANC vice president has blamed the virgin-Aids-rapings, on apartheid.
NINE times they haven't taken responsibility.
Their Aids plan is sadly lacking in effectiveness, and they are spending extremely low amounts on this disease.
EVEN if Mbeki is correct, that HIV doesn't cause Aids, then why won't he offer AZT for mothers who have AIDS so that their babies do not get the disease and die within 10 years?
(The AZT drug costs roughly R1 000 (approx. $100 US dollars), and is needed by Aids-infected mothers, to stop the disease from carrying over to the baby... The drug has worked in 92% of cases tested... It is available for free, in ONE South African province, the Western Cape, which is NOT governed by the ANC, but the Democratic Alliance (DA)... SO, EVEN IF Aids isn't linked to HIV, if we have a drug that saves our children in 92% of cases... WHY THE F*CKING HELL ISN'T THE ANC GIVING IT OUT FOR FREE TO THE PUBLIC?)
I am MORE than happy to answer ANY questions you may have regarding the Aids issue, how you can help, where to get more information, etc. Please e-mail me at woolfam@bigpond.com
YOUR E-MAIL WILL BE ANSWERED!!!
OKAY, so what do the public think?
-I have provided you here with a transcript about AIDS from a popular South African message board...
-Enjoy!
Mbeki on AIDS
Submitted by Alfred
It is preposterous to think that Mbeki can say AIDS is caused by starvation. One does not need to like him to know that.
The media should also start respecting our intelligence and stop picking few words out of what is actually said. Of course one understands that this is usually calculated to embarass him.
Try to get a full transcript of what Mbeki said and give an informed opinion.
In case you wondering, I do believe that our government is not addressing the issue of HIV/AIDS with the urgency it needs.
by bewildered and confused
Why did Mbeki hold up the MRC report proving that AIDS was the biggest killer of productive adults in South Africa?
Also, why did Mbeki, after having studied the MRC report, publically quoted 6 year old statistics to back his claims that AIDS was not a problem in SA?
Does our president want to kill off his people?
by Grim Reaper
Mbeki is an arrogant fool.
He is so obscessed about justifying his academic argument that the HIV virus is not the cause of AIDS that he doesn't mind how many perish or suffer in the process. At the back of his little racist mind he is still hankering for the proof that the whites/imperialists/capitalists, through poverty, drugs, whatever, are the actual cause of AIDS.
I'm sure he doesn't want to kill off his people, he simply doesn't care. To him, the end justifies the means.
by For Reality sake!
Let's for a minute assume that Our President Thabo Mbeki meant what he said about aids and starvation.
Would it not be a wonderful gesture if he would steer Government spending in the direction of fighting poverty so that all citizen's of S.A can benefit from it's wealth, instead of a small minority, which has now been joined by the 'black elite'. Just wondered whether the vote of those people's ( small minority and black elite's )vote alone will be able to keep our government in power? The way the government goes about what they do certainly indicates this, isn't it?
by Ad
www.fightaidsathome.org
by nicky - A veteran debater
Cousin Thabo doesn't ask the right questions at all, but his ideas go straight against best scientific knowledge. In case of an epidemic on this scale that is simply criminal.
He should be tried for at least criminal negligence, if not for involuntary (?) genocide (if such a beast exists).
Zweli, your argument about good nutrition and general health postponing the onset of AIDS is completely beside the point: it is not disputed by established science at all, and it does not impact on HIV being the cause of AIDS either.
(NB: I have removed Zweli's posting, because he/she has posted an off-track argument against the HIV/AIDS disease, stating that AIDS is very controversial, and that some people with malaria can test positive for HIV... What Zweli did say, was that prevention is the best ruite to take: true! Australia's plan initiated in 1991 dealt swiftly with both prevention, education, and treatment... The South African government has only initiated it's Aids plan within the past 12 months -- and it doesn't even have an Aids minister... It has failed LARGELY on PREVENTING the disease, it has provided VERY LITTLE EDUCATION, and is failing miserably in TREATMENT...
AND FINALLY, EVEN IF Zweli is 150% correct about everything he/she says, the AZT issue has proven itself correct, in that in 92% of cases, aids-infected pregnant women who take the drug bear Aids-free children... PROOF, that EVEN IF the government is correct, that they are not doing their jobs properly...)
by Carola
I am a very ignorant person but I would very much like to know how traditional healers in South Africa explain this epidemic and the cause of it. I do understand that different ethnic groups might have different concepts of diagnostic prosedures and concepts of explanation. I also would like to understand:
1. Do traditional medical practices contradict so called western medcine? How?
2. Is it true that Malaria is a very terrible disease but being infected with it can prevent worse diseases? If so how?
3. What role plays blood and hygiene in traditional life? Like circumsicion, scarification ect.
4. What is the opinion of traditional healers concerning the common sexual practices in South Africa?
5. What is the cause of incrising violence and exploitation towards females? Opressed masculinity? Overpopulation? Poverty?
6. Which way do the common people believe the country will turn when so and so many thousand children will raise without parentes? Is there any social concept?
7. Why does it seem that only males are in the position to make decisions concerning the epidemic?
(These are actually EXCELLENT questions, and I can only answer some of them...
- 1) Traditional medical practices differ from ethnic group to ethnic group in South Africa. In the event that their practices DO contradict conventional western medicine, the government should try hard to educate the rural tribes... once they have a better understanding of the disease, they will be better equipped to both deal with it, and treat it... But the government is failing miserably with the Aids education issue, and this is further reflected by the pathetic amounts of money the government spends, and the fact that an Aids scheme has only been initiated extremely recently...
- 2) I am not equipped to answer this question... however, I do not think it's co-incidence that the numbers of "Malaria infected peoples" have EXTREMELY SOARED within the last 5-10 years, to result in the Aids number we have today... That means, that IF we are really experiencing a Malaria crisis, we has the number multiplied itself several times in just 10 years, with no signs of a large-scale Malaria outbreak? Furthermore, the government is still doing a terrible job over Aids...
- 3) Excellent question... this can easily be solved with education, and urbanisation... the government is failing to do either...
- 4) I am not sure... however, it has been reported over the past 12 months, that Aids can apparently be cured by having sex with a virgin -- we all know, and have proven, this claim to be false... In addition, even in the urban areas, husbands continue to not practice safe sex, and MANY are sleeping around... it is truely sad and shocking...
- 5) I am not sure... however I know that the rapings over Aids are EXTREMELY concentrated on children, and not just adults... I think only males have the ease to rape children and babies, and therefore FEMALE children and babies, while the female Aids-sufferers are not even reported -- are there any of them?
Apparently it falls down to lack of respect or hatred towards women... this has been the sentiment for rape BEFORE the Aids crisis...
- 6) Good question... I think that the government will have to deal with the situation by building hundreds of children's homes and spending millions of funding on caring for these children, for at least 10 years... Here's the shocker:
A child born with Aids will live up to 10 years -- the record...
...which means, that the government will have to provide care for this children, for 6 years ANYWAY...
...However, the AZT drug, will ensure THESE SAME CHILDREN LIVE!...
..and any decent government, would not allow them to die off like that...
...SO, if we will be caring for these kids for up to 10 years anyway, why not ensure they LIVE?
IF YOU were running a country, wouldn't you provide AZT drugs to save these children? What if the entire country wanted you to?
- 7) Excellent question... The ANC government is definately not ballanced when sex or morals are concerned... The ANC government boasts a 99% membership, plus a 90% male membership in its ranks... Our president, Thabo Mbeki, fires cabinet members for not agreeing with his Aids policies, and so, his cabinet has become his 'yes men', and the Health Minister has agreed with the president in every step...
WHAT IS GOING ON?)
by Rossi
Carola you raise some VERY interesting questions, I too should like to know the answers to them, if anyone can. The whole dilemna of HivAids seems conflicted and shrouded in mystery, perhaps this is the reason why Mbeki is probing it. However I feel that medical investigation will come closer to understanding it if the universal consensus of certain aspects of Aids is taken as a starting point, denial of these is not helpful in the least.
REMEMBER, feel free to ask us anything, e-mail at woolfam@bigpond.com
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