AIDS Causing Rift in South Africa's Ruling Party
By Kay Schriner (kays@uark.edu)
South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is showing signs of a major division concerning the country's AIDS problem.
President Thabo Mbeki has made several attempts to minimize the emphasis on AIDS as a health and social problem. But the Medical Research Council of South Africa (MRC) recently completed a report finding that AIDS is the leading cause of death in South Africa. The report has been "suppressed" by the government, according to the Mail & Guardian, a Johannesburg newspaper. The government has said the report is not credible.
The new report is stirring up controversy within the ANC. Two ANC-controlled provinces, Gauteng and Free State, have said that AIDS is the cause of more deaths than any other in those regions. And while Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang claims that the MRC report was leaked to cause trouble within the ANC, she also denied that any divisions exist. Meanwhile, the ANC's health committee has argued that the report should be released.
Business Day, a Johannesburg publication, gives activist groups credit for making AIDS a political issue. Comparing the AIDS movement to other groups like the Landless Peoples Movement, Business Day says that the Treatment Action Campaign has been savvy by including labor unions and churches in its activities. Zackie Achmat of the Campaign is quoted as saying that AIDS is a "test of governance."
South Africa's government will not be using its new census to learn more about AIDS, though. Citing the stigma attached to the disease, the manager of Statistic South Africa has said that asking people about AIDS or HIV could undermine trust and raise suspicion about the use of sensitive information. "People have been killed for revealing their AIDS status," he said.
In other developments in South Africa, newspapers there report that a bank is planning to evict a group of AIDS orphans from their home. The Sowetan, another Johannesburg newspaper, editorializes that the nation needs a "comprehensive national social plan to deal with the consequences of the [AIDS] pandemic," including the "establishment of community-based [AIDS] care centers."
Information for this story was taken from the following sources:
Editorial. The Sowetan, October 8, 20001
Aids is Gauteng's Biggest Killer. Business Day, October 5, 2001
Minister Denies Rift in Party over Aids Data. The Sowetan, October 8, 2001
Shocking Aids Report Leaked. Mail & Guardian, October 5, 2001
Aids Issue a Test of Governance. Business Day, October 5, 2001
Census Avoids Issue of HIV/Aids. UN Integrated Regional Information Network, October 5, 2001
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