Issued by the Office of the President
7 November 2001
The Presidency wishes to respond to a report in the Cape Times (6 Nov) purporting to give information about the President's views and Government policy on HIV/Aids.
The report, based on an article in a magazine, consists of a series of tendentious statements, from unnamed sources, which do no justice to the President's position. It alleges, without any credible substantiation, that the President has "seemed" to downplay the extent of HIV/AIDS and has tried to crush criticism of his views.
It says the Cabinet withheld the Medical Research Council report for "approval of its contents". This is not so. That report was, in fact, published. Cabinet merely noted the contents of the report, which was part of an interdepartmental effort initiated by Cabinet to get the best possible mortality statistics. The media report says the Government threatened to withhold MRC funding if it did not "toe the line on HIV/AIDS". This is fiction.
The report cites an "insider" (presumably a Minister) as source of a fictitious story about the President's displaying "rage", "terrifying to watch", towards the Minister of Health in Cabinet. The author presumably knows that anything you fancy can be said about what transpires in Cabinet since its proceedings are confidential, and government does not respond to rumours about them. But let us make this occasion an exception, and assert that this is yet another figment of a fertile imagination.
The Archbishop of Cape Town is said to have been called to Pretoria and "hauled over the coals" for criticising government. This is not true. The President has never discussed HIV/AIDS with the Archbishop.
The reality is that the Government has a comprehensive strategic five-year plan which it is implementing, and which is resourced under the MTEF on an expanding basis, and is informed by an approach to public health and to HIV/Aids in particular that is in line with an increasingly broad international consensus. It is an approach which places special emphasis on prevention and lifestyle change, alongside research, treatment and care.
This weekend (editors: Sunday Times 4 November) the three Ministers dealing primarily with HIV/AIDS urgently called for an end to point-scoring and the drawing of suspicious conclusions in this important matter.
We do acknowledge the right of individual journalist to delve into fiction. But it is tragic both to the campaign against HIV/AIDS and the profession of journalism that an individual writer's imagination and personal fury on such a serious matter is peddled as authoritative information and analysis.
For Enquiries Contact:
Bheki Khumalo - 0832569133