South African AIDS Activists to Launch Sweeping Protests

On Thursday, South Africa's leading AIDS advocacy group will launch a civil disobedience campaign as part of efforts to pressure President Thabo Mbeki to step-up the AIDS fight and fire his controversial health minister. At the 16th International AIDS Conference, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang advocated dietary nutrients for AIDS patients. "We will get our international allies to start writing to the government, and encourage businesses investing in South Africa to use their money as a tool to put pressure on the government over this issue," Zackie Achmat, Treatment Action Campaign's chairperson, said Tuesday before appearing at a Cape Town court for staging an illegal protest last week. TAC activists will occupy government buildings and disrupt meetings, said Achmat. "We will not stop until the president dismisses the minister. It is regrettable that we have to resort to breaking the law in order for the government to take us seriously," he said.

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