South Africa's AIDS Timebomb Looms Large in Elections

President Thabo Mbeki's African National Congress (ANC) government last week began distributing free AIDS drugs at a handful of state hospitals -- a long overdue move that opposition parties are quick to point out occurred curiously close to the April 14 elections. The cabinet approved its national treatment plan in November but did not keep its promise of providing free antiretrovirals to more than 50,000 people by the end of March.

"Across the nation, the ANC has broken its promises on AIDS," said Tony Leon, leader of the Democratic Alliance, whose platform with the Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom Party calls for greater action against AIDS. But other than providing free antiretrovirals, the opposition parties have not come up with any new ideas to fight the epidemic.

Treatment Action Campaign, an AIDS lobby group, says some 600 people die each day of AIDS, making it South Africa's biggest killer. The government's failure to mount a quick response to AIDS has become a major issue in the run-up to the elections, which coincide with the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid.

Mbeki has questioned the link between HIV and AIDS and labeled antiretrovirals "dangerous." Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang continues to advocate diet as a way to beat AIDS. In November, the cabinet bowed to pressure and approved a free AIDS drug plan that, once implemented, will be Africa's most comprehensive. Shortly after, former President Nelson Mandela called AIDS a greater threat than apartheid.

Patricia de Lille, whose Independent Democrats have taken AIDS as a campaign plank, took a public HIV test on Monday and urged Mbeki to do the same.

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