The Democratic Alliance yesterday criticised President Thabo Mbeki for failing to attend a Southern African Development Community (SADC) Aids summit held in Lesotho on Friday.

DA HIV/Aids spokesperson Mike Waters said the summit was meant to show SADC leaders being at the forefront of the Aids fight.

Mbeki was one of ten SADC leaders who did not attend the meeting.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Botswana President Festus Mogae and Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe were the only heads of state to attend the meeting.

Deputy President Jacob Zuma represented Mbeki - who had returned from a state visit to Jamaica on Thursday afternoon – at the meeting.

The president's spokesman Bheki Khumalo declined to give a reason for the president's non-attendance.

"I am not going to explain why the president did not attend. The deputy-president was there," he said.

Waters criticised Mbeki for behaving as though the HIV/Aids crisis did not exist.

"South Africa cannot afford the price of a president who doesn't care.

South Africa needs a president whose actions show that he is committed to stopping the slaughter brought about by the HI-virus," he said.

Waters added that the SADC countries had some of the highest prevalence rates of the HI-virus, and South Africa the highest number of HIV/Aids cases in the world - about 4,7-million.

"That only four heads of state saw fit to attend this crucial summit is a sad reflection of SADC leaders' inadequate commitment to the fight against Aids," he said.

The Maseru Declaration on HIV/Aids in the SADC region released on Friday said the regional body planned to implement priority areas in its fight against the pandemic.

The declaration also identified a number of priority areas which included access to care, testing and treatment, prevention and social mobilisation to fight the scourge. – Sapa.