Len > What could he possibly be thinking?
Or not thinking, because this will certainly damage him, the ANC, the country and delay or prevent treatment which many AIDS sufferers would otherwise have had.
As I see it, Mbeki has always had an agenda to blame AIDS on the whites. When AIDS "surfaced" and became a serious issue about 10-15 years ago, his position was that AIDS arose because of poverty and malnutrition brought about by colonialism and racial exploitation. He sided strongly with the dissidents who argued that AIDS had nothing to do with HIV infection and the condition therefore was not the responsibility either of the government or the affected individuals themselves, who were simply the victims of racial oppression.
Since, in his eyes, the disease was not due to the HIV virus, Mbeki strongly resisted instituting antiretroviral treatment in State hospitals and clinics. He argued further that there was a white conspiracy to market expensive, and indeed toxic, drugs to black victims. Wherever he looked, he saw AIDS and its treatment in racial terms.
His Minister of Health, Manto Tshabala-Msimang, strongly supports Mbeki's views and considers that an adequate treatment for AIDS is given by nutritional supplements which include beetroot, garlic and the African potato. Clearly, this may be of some benefit to the immune systems of malnourished people suffering from the effects of a virus which attacks their immune systems specifically, but by no stretch of the imagination can such "treatment" suppress the virus itself, as ARVs do.
As result of major interference and court action by AIDS activist groups in SA as well as foreign lobbying and support, Mbeki appeared to relent somewhat and agreed to "roll out" anti-retroviral treatment in State hospitals and clinics. This "roll out" was effected so parsimoniously and niggardly, however, that I believe the total number of patients who receive treatment throughout SA is less than 100,000 after 3 years. (It is estimated there are 6 million HIV/AIDS sufferers in SA with a growth rate of +/-15% pa).
As the article says, "The sacked minister, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, is an outspoken critic of President Mbeki and his Health Minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and the way they have handled the epidemic. She was the co-architect of an ambitious new five-year plan to accelerate the rollout of free, life-saving Aids drugs, tripling the numbers on treatment by 2011. That plan could now be in jeopardy."
Although he agreed to it, he must privately have been very angry about this 5-year plan because it embarrassed him and his Minister. Furthermore, there were other disasters involving public health and the State hospitals which Nozizwe was outspoken about, again to the chagrin of her Minister and no doubt Mbeki, himself, who is very sensitive to any kind of criticism of himself or his policies.
Clearly, Nozizwe did not abide by the "party line" and, in fact, was outspoken against it. In a so-called democracy, this should have been welcomed, if not encouraged -- but Mbeki is not a democrat. He wants power and he wants absolute power and there are many who believe that if he could get away with it he would like to do what Mugabe has done.
Much like George Bush, Mbeki has surrounded himself with yes-men and women. Anyone of ability who he perceived as a threat he got rid of. Cyril Ramaphosa and Tokyo Sequale are two such people, both of whom have been mooted as the next president of the country. Mbeki's term of presidency is due to finish in two years but no successor has been groomed for the obvious reason that he wants the Constitution of the country amended so that his term can last longer, perhaps even indefinitely, like Mugabe.
So, like many others before her, in my opinion, Nozizwe is a victim in Mbeki's drive for absolute power. Admittedly, he doesn't get his "enemies" killed, incarcerated in mental hospitals as Stalin did or beaten up as Mugabe does, but in his own sweet way Mbeki is just as ruthless and just as determined.
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