Treatment Action Campaign

By Zackie Achmat, Mail & Guardian 27 September 2008

On September 20 2008, as South Africa’s newly acquired Gripen fighter jets took off from a local air show to parade across Cape Town skies, residents would awaken to one of the most remarkable days in the political history of the republic. The Mbeki-Pahad monolith had collapsed.

The decision by the ANC to recall President Thabo Mbeki represents the downfall of the most hubristic executive in contemporary South Africa, and one that has been characterised by the unrelenting denialism of the greatest threats facing our country -- the mounting failure of the criminal justice system to prosecute and convict criminals, the increasingly disturbing nature of violent crime, burgeoning inequality and unemployment, the HIV/Aids catastrophe and the culture of impunity for corrupt and incompetent public officials.

To Mr Vumase

The Department of Health has indicated the need for a detailed forensic investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disposal of donar funding within the department. The KZN Provincial Treasury Department has appointed Ubunye Consortium to conduct the said investigation and submit a report on the findings to Treasury.

Your assistance is required in

• Nkonyeni continues witch-hunt against Mark Blaylock and Colin Pfaff
• National Health Act has been breached because Nkonyeni, her officials and the Kwazulu-Natal Treasury have:
  • Publicised private details of Dr Mark Blaylock's medical history.
  • Handed over original confidential patient records to a private company.
• Nkonyeni fails to honour agreement with civil society to resolve conflict.

Kwazulu-Natal Province (KZN) is the epicentre of the South African HIV epidemic. Nearly 40% of pregnant women attending public health facilities in the province are HIV-positive. 16.5% of people over the age of two are infected (South African National HIV Survey, 2005). More than any other province it needs good political leadership on AIDS. But instead the province's MEC for Health, Peggy Nkonyeni, entertains AIDS denialism and is destroying health-care in the province.

The Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Bill, 2008 was formally introduced to Parliament on 17 June 2008. Parliament has called for submissions by 18 July. It will hold public hearings on 5 to 6 August. The Bill is disastrous. It will undermine the scientific governance of medicine and potentially reverse the gains of the recent court victory by TAC and the South African Medical Association in their case against Matthias Rath, the Minister of Health and others.

Here is a letter written to the Head of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health by TAC and the AIDS Law Project (ALP) indicating our intention to make an oral submission to Parliament on the bill and raising our broad concerns with the bill.

Today the Cape High Court handed down a landmark judgment in a court action initiated by TAC and the South African Medical Association (SAMA) against Matthias Rath and the Government of South Africa. The case was originally heard before the Court on 12-14 March 2008.

The Kwazulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Health has yet again taken disciplinary action against a doctor without good reason, this time Dr Mark Blaylock of Manguzi hospital.

GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP ON HIV/AIDS IRREVOCABLY DEFEATS DENIALISM!

IMPLEMENT A NEW CREDIBLE PLAN WITH CLEAR TARGETS!

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The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASASA) has upheld a complaint by the Treatment Action Campaign against an advertisement for the fake AIDS cure, Ubhejane, placed by Zeblon Gwala in Ilanga newspaper on 6 December 2007.

The ruling is here.

The contents of Ubhejane have never been made public. It has never been tested in clinical trials. It is unregistered and sold illegally as a cure or treatment for HIV.

What is AIDS denialism?

It is the promotion of one or more of the following pseudo-scientific views: (1) HIV does not cause AIDS, (2) the risks of antiretovirals outweigh their benefits and (3) there is not a large AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

Here we present links to documents debunking these myths. We also present links to documents showing the dire consequences of AIDS denialism.

Key documents explaining the science of HIV/AIDS

The Evidence that HIV Causes AIDS

The Kwazulu-Natal Department of Health has withdrawn its disciplinary action against Dr Colin Pfaff. The TAC welcomes this development.

See our previous statement on disciplinary action against Dr Pfaff.

We agree with Dr Francois Venter, president of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society who said: