Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 4/13/2006

[Guest guest]

U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) - 1995-2005 ten years serving the

humanitarian community

[These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENT:

1 - SOUTH AFRICA: Health minister blames media for risking AIDS awareness

1 - SOUTH AFRICA: Health minister blames media for risking AIDS awareness

JOHANNESBURG, 13 April (PLUSNEWS) - South Africa's health minister is holding

the media responsible for publicising former deputy president Zuma's

testimony in his rape trial, saying it might reverse gains made in HIV/AIDS

awareness.

A 31-year-old HIV-positive activist has alleged that Zuma raped her at his home

in Johannesburg in November 2005. Zuma claimed he had consensual sex with the

complainant, and told the court last week that he did not use a condom because

he believed that the risk of a man contracting the virus from an HIV-positive

woman was " minimal " .

Zuma, who chaired the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) when he was

deputy head of state, also told the court that he had taken a shower straight

after having sex with the complainant to reduce the risk of contracting the

virus.

Both Zuma's claims have been slammed by concerned HIV/AIDS activists as

" irresponsible " and " inaccurate " . South Africa has the world's highest number of

people living with HIV/AIDS: around six million of an estimated population of 45

million are believed to be infected.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who has been in the spotlight for her

support of President Thabo Mbeki's controversial views on HIV/AIDS, reportedly

accused the media of misleading the public by publicising Zuma's claims.

In turn, local media and NGOs have criticised the government and the ruling

African National Congress (ANC) for their silence on Zuma's misinformed

pronouncements on how HIV is spread.

The Business Day newspaper commented in an editorial on Wednesday, " what is

extraordinary, or perhaps tragic, is the silence from the ANC and its leaders

and heavyweights as Zuma (their leader), by his own words and deeds, reveals

himself as a moral fraud and an intellectual charlatan. Nothing that Zuma has

said or had done in his defence in this trial is sub judice. It can be commented

on, criticised and analysed. Yet what have we heard from the ANC? "

Dr Saadiq Kariem, the ANC's national health secretary, who has been under

considerable pressure from certain sections of his party for supporting

conventional views on HIV/AIDS, told IRIN that he was concerned with " the

message [on HIV/AIDS from the trial], particularly to the youth, who are

misinterpreting the claims [made by Zuma]. "

Since the trial, Kariem said, he had also had to field several calls from " ANC

comrades enquiring whether a shower could help get rid of HIV " .

Senior ANC leaders have attributed the party's silence on the matter to internal

divisions over support for Zuma. Mbeki dismissed Zuma as the country's deputy

president last year after he was implicated in a high-profile fraud trial. Zuma

had been regarded as a possible successor to Mbeki, who completes his final term

in office in 2009. Zuma's supporters claim he is the victim of a smear campaign.

" He [Zuma] was originally part of the Mbeki camp, who were AIDS dissidents, but

it was Mbeki who dismissed him. So a statement critical of Zuma's claims could

immediately slot you into the pro-Mbeki camp, when one is in neither camp, " said

a senior ANC official.

Mazibuka Zara, a former activist with the AIDS lobby group, Treatment Action

Campaign, and an official of the South African Communist Party, the ANC's

alliance partner, pointed out that at the height of the controversy over the

government's position on HIV/AIDS, " when there was a need for leaders to

challenge the dissident views from within the movement " , Zuma, who then headed

SANAC, had failed to rise to the occasion.

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[This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information

service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its

agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer

to the copyright page (Http://www.irinnews.org/copyright ) for conditions of

use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian

Affairs.]

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Subscriber: AIDS treatments

[Guest guest]

U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) - 1995-2005 ten years serving the

humanitarian community

[These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENT:

1 - SOUTH AFRICA: Health minister blames media for risking AIDS awareness

1 - SOUTH AFRICA: Health minister blames media for risking AIDS awareness

JOHANNESBURG, 13 April (PLUSNEWS) - South Africa's health minister is holding

the media responsible for publicising former deputy president Zuma's

testimony in his rape trial, saying it might reverse gains made in HIV/AIDS

awareness.

A 31-year-old HIV-positive activist has alleged that Zuma raped her at his home

in Johannesburg in November 2005. Zuma claimed he had consensual sex with the

complainant, and told the court last week that he did not use a condom because

he believed that the risk of a man contracting the virus from an HIV-positive

woman was " minimal " .

Zuma, who chaired the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) when he was

deputy head of state, also told the court that he had taken a shower straight

after having sex with the complainant to reduce the risk of contracting the

virus.

Both Zuma's claims have been slammed by concerned HIV/AIDS activists as

" irresponsible " and " inaccurate " . South Africa has the world's highest number of

people living with HIV/AIDS: around six million of an estimated population of 45

million are believed to be infected.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who has been in the spotlight for her

support of President Thabo Mbeki's controversial views on HIV/AIDS, reportedly

accused the media of misleading the public by publicising Zuma's claims.

In turn, local media and NGOs have criticised the government and the ruling

African National Congress (ANC) for their silence on Zuma's misinformed

pronouncements on how HIV is spread.

The Business Day newspaper commented in an editorial on Wednesday, " what is

extraordinary, or perhaps tragic, is the silence from the ANC and its leaders

and heavyweights as Zuma (their leader), by his own words and deeds, reveals

himself as a moral fraud and an intellectual charlatan. Nothing that Zuma has

said or had done in his defence in this trial is sub judice. It can be commented

on, criticised and analysed. Yet what have we heard from the ANC? "

Dr Saadiq Kariem, the ANC's national health secretary, who has been under

considerable pressure from certain sections of his party for supporting

conventional views on HIV/AIDS, told IRIN that he was concerned with " the

message [on HIV/AIDS from the trial], particularly to the youth, who are

misinterpreting the claims [made by Zuma]. "

Since the trial, Kariem said, he had also had to field several calls from " ANC

comrades enquiring whether a shower could help get rid of HIV " .

Senior ANC leaders have attributed the party's silence on the matter to internal

divisions over support for Zuma. Mbeki dismissed Zuma as the country's deputy

president last year after he was implicated in a high-profile fraud trial. Zuma

had been regarded as a possible successor to Mbeki, who completes his final term

in office in 2009. Zuma's supporters claim he is the victim of a smear campaign.

" He [Zuma] was originally part of the Mbeki camp, who were AIDS dissidents, but

it was Mbeki who dismissed him. So a statement critical of Zuma's claims could

immediately slot you into the pro-Mbeki camp, when one is in neither camp, " said

a senior ANC official.

Mazibuka Zara, a former activist with the AIDS lobby group, Treatment Action

Campaign, and an official of the South African Communist Party, the ANC's

alliance partner, pointed out that at the height of the controversy over the

government's position on HIV/AIDS, " when there was a need for leaders to

challenge the dissident views from within the movement " , Zuma, who then headed

SANAC, had failed to rise to the occasion.

[ENDS]

This is non-reply e-mail. Please do not hesitate to contact us at

Mail@....

Principal donors: IRIN is generously supported by Australia, Canada, Denmark,

ECHO, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and

the United States of America. For more information, go to:

http://www.IRINnews.org/donors

[This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information

service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its

agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer

to the copyright page (Http://www.irinnews.org/copyright ) for conditions of

use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian

Affairs.]

PLUSNEWS

Tel: +27 11 895-1900

Fax: +27 11 784-6759

Email: Mail@...

To make changes to or cancel your subscription visit:

http://www.irinnews.org/subscriptions

Subscriber: AIDS treatments