Manto backtracks on beetroot while Zuma preaches morals
29 September 2006 | AIDS Denialsm | AIDS Politics
It seems Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is not as impervious to public ridicule and pressure as she would have us believe. It appears she has denounced her famous diet alternative to anti-retroviral treatment. On 26 September, Sapa reported her as telling reporters at a media briefing:
“I challenge you to read all my statements and show me where this minister ever said it was an alternative. It is not.”
However, Tshabalala-Msimang did not completely relinquish her famous allegiance to beetroot, garlic and olive oil.
“It [nutrition] is not a substitute for medical treatment, but it helps in maintaining optimal health.”
In a recent interview with American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research’s Roger Bate, an economist who researches international aid policies in Africa and the developing world, Tshabalala-Msimang also denied having ever said her diet was an alternative to ARVs.
“We have never said that lemons or beetroot or garlic are therapeutically equivalent to ART. What we do say is that is that they contain micronutrients that make them valuable in strengthening the body to respond to certain health conditions associated with HIV and AIDS. A good diet, the right micronutrients, and a healthy lifestyle can help a patient infected with HIV stave off the onset of AIDS-related illness… But we never tell patients that diet can be a substitute for ART [anti-retroviral treatment]. It is important for a patient on ART to have a healthy diet.”
This is despite the fact that she never contested the numerous news reports about her promotion of nutrition in place of ARVs. In May 2005, the IOL quoted her as saying;
“When we were being pressured to use ARVs, we did warn about the side effects, and when I get reports about the people on ARVs nobody presents to me how many people have fallen off the programme or died because of the side effects.”
“Raw garlic and a skin of the lemon - not only do they give you a beautiful face and skin but they also protect you from disease.”
At one stage she was also a staunch and declared supporter of charlatan and “vitamin entrepreneur” Matthias Rath.
“I will only distance myself from Dr Rath if it can be demonstrated that the vitamin supplements that he is prescribing are poisonous for people infected with HIV,” she was quoted by The Star as saying.
In 2005 the Mail&Guardian reported her saying;
“There is no single clear intervention that can solely solve the challenges of people living with HIV and Aid. I know I get attacked if I say it’s nutrition or micro-nutrients or anti-retrovirals and people want me to say 'and, and, and'. I think we need to give South African options.”
Whether Tshabalala-Msimang is genuinely trying to bridge a communication break-down or save her own skin, the message is loud and clear: ARVs are effective in combating HIV/AIDS and good nutrition is not a suitable substitute. She knows she made a mistake and she must correct it. At least the people of this country will no longer be torn between listening to doctors and listening to a national minister of health. Interestingly enough, the media has not called Tshabalala-Msimang to account or taken her up on the challenge her challenge.
Director of the Aids Law Project, Mark Heywood, once said, “I know of a close friend who died because she was too scared to take anti-retrovirals … the minister should be disciplined by the ANC for her remarks.”
While Tshabalala-Msimang might finally be seeing the limitations of beetroot, another leader is continuing to practice hypocrisy unabated. Former deputy president Jacob Zuma was appointed as the main speaker at the launch of the Moral Regeneration and HIV/AIDS Campaign in Musina last week, Sapa reported.
According to co-ordinator Maxwell Nemadzivhanani, Zuma was chosen to speak because of the commitment he had shown in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This is the same Zuma who had unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman and then claimed to have taken a shower in order to minimise the risk of infection.
“Zuma has shown a lot of commitment in fighting this disease and we thought it appropriate that he addressed the youth,” said Nemadzivhanani.
That Zuma was trusted to speak to 400 home-based care-givers who will educate the Musina community about the importance of having morals is cause for panic. The only chance the Musina community has of not being corrupted by this is if those care-givers are smarter than Zuma.
Hopefully the utter idiocy that has gripped our leaders and is enveloping this country in a dark cloud will start to lift and another 178 635 people can be added to the number of people on anti-retroviral treatment soon. – Akhona Cira
Comments
Irrespective of why the minister is trying to save her skin, until she is thrown out of her job, not even an ounce of justice will be done.
When will the calls of “Fire Manto now” be heard? What a sad state of affairs South Africa has got itself into. The light of the once dark continent is flickering to the point that this country is going to experience a blackout much worse than Eskom’s. A moral and intellectual darkness is sweeping over the nation, and we all should be very, very concerned.
As for Zuma, he being called “moral” is just too dimwitted, bewildering, and outrageous to comment on.
Normality, where for art thou.
Shame on Zuma…Shame on him. He headed the moral regeneration campaign before doing an immoral act of sleeping with the daughter of his comrade, young enough to be his. And now he wants to take off the same campaign he has betrayed. If he thinks the nation would forget so quickly that immoral act of his, then he is the most shortsighted immoralist i’ve ever come across. Does he really think that engaging himself in HIV/AIDS campaigns will erase his evil doings? Jacob iZuma should sideline himself in such campaigns because he is taking a place of someone whose message will have an impact. I will never be led by someone of Zuma’s calibre. His utterances prove how illiterate he is. If it is true that there is a smearing campaign against him (corruption trial) those people are wasting their time with this low life citizen. If i was a journalist, i would never write about Zuma in my newspaper. He is not worth to be talked about or read about.
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