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South Africa

PRESIDENT MBEKI QUESTIONS AZT (NOV. '99)

"South African President Thabo Mbeki, under pressure to supply the anti-AIDS drug AZT to thousands of rape victims in the country, said his government was investigating whether the drug was safe to use," writes Reuters. See also this I-Africa news item. Glaxo lied again and said the drug was safe. AP reported Mbeki got his information from the internet, see this article too. Could be from this site, see also this article. Prof. Peter Duesberg has been interviewed on SA's prime-time TV. Glaxo met with SA's Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Another article from the Financial Mail. South Africa simply could not afford to give AZT to people with HIV and AIDS, Tshabalala-Msimang said. The Financial Mail made it a cover story. New Africa published an article too. See also this article from the New York Times, and this one from SA's The Mail & Guardian

A TIMELY FIRESTORM (DEC. '99)

"South African President Thabo Mbeki has started an uproar by refusing to give pregnant women AZT. With the International AIDS Conference in Durban looming, the stage is set for a major showdown." See this new column by Celia Farber.

GOVERNMENT QUESTIONS AIDS (MARCH '00)

The South African government is going to setup an international panel to reappraise the scientific evidence that HIV causes AIDS. "Never before has any government opened the debate for assessment by an independent expert group." Read more in this SAPA press release, this item from The Star, another one, and this article and this editorial from the Citizen. Some articles published in Focus. Part of the invitation, Dr. David Rasnick's letter to Mbeki, the statement made by the Minister of Health, and another report by SAPA. A reply to Rasnick's letter by the Perth Group, with replies. "The ANC, scientific organisations and institutions ...indicated their support for the government's initiative...", says this SAPA article. An article printed in the Daily Mail, an article from South Africa's Financial Mail, another article from The Village Voice, an item from Nature, and an article from the Sunday Independent. "At least one so-called dissident has accepted an invitation to sit on the panel," says this report from SAPA. An item by AP, and the release from Mbeki's office. Another article from The Star, an article from Newsday, and an editorial from The Mail & Guardian.

Some new articles about AIDS in Africa were written by dissidents. See this article by Colman Jones for Toronto's Now. Prof. Charles Geshekter got an article published in the Globe and Mail. And Tom Bethell wrote an article for The American Spectator.

EYE ON SOUTH AFRICA (APRIL '00)

The South African government started questioning AIDS. (see below). See this story from The Australian Financial Review. An article from The Sunday Times, a report from AFP, an item from The Independent, another article from the San Francisco Chronicle, an article from The Mail and Guardian, a report from BMJ, an article from Newsweek, a Reuters release, and an article from the Chicago Tribune. And the statement IFAS made before the Commission on Human Rights at the United Nations in Geneva.

"President Thabo Mbeki has given an interview to an AIDS dissident journalist," see this item from the Star. The Meditel programme (see transcript) has been broadcasted on Carte Blanche, M-Net, to 40 African countries. See this article from Reuters, and this SAPA release.

President Mbeki wrote a letter to world leaders. See this Washington Post front page article, and this issue from Reuters. "Deputy President Jacob Zuma has joined the fray in a raging debate on the government's controversial AIDS policy", says the Daily Mail and Guardian. An article from Newsday, and another article from CNN and Time. A news item from Nature, and Nature's open letter to Mbeki. An article from the Globe and Mail, and another one published in The New York Times, an AFP release, and an article from New Scientist.

Listen to the Talk of the Nation radio program, and the Democracy Now program, both covering the President's actions.

There have been rallies to support Mbeki in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and London. You now can sign an online petition to support the President.

PRESIDENT MBEKI'S AIDS PANEL (MAY '00)

The South African government has set up an international panel to reappraise AIDS. (see below) See the list with scientists invited. President Mbeki opened the first meeting. See this New York Times report, this article from AFP, and this release from Reuters.

The Perth Group was not present at the meeting, read why. See the list of participants. The dissident minority released a statement.

"Duesberg will work with the Atlanta-based Centre for Disease Control and South Africa's Medical Research Council to prepare experiments to determine whether the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes the deadly AIDS." See this Reuters report, this report from AFP, and this release from SAPA.

There will also be a closed internet discussion among all the participants over the next 6 weeks, and there will be a follow-up meeting near the end of June.

See also this article from Washington Times, and this article from Nature.

More SA officials defend the rights of AIDS dissidents to be heard, see this SAPA release, and this Reuters article.

"Former president Nelson Mandela expressed support for President Thabo Mbeki's views on the HIV/AIDS debate, SABC television news reported. Speaking to students in New York, Mandela said Mbeki had done his homework before going public..." (SAPA 16 May)

President Mbeki has been visiting the United States. See this New York Times issue, this article from Chicago Tribune, this Newsday article, this AP issue, and this Reuters report.

Mbeki answered a question about AIDS during a meeting in San Fransico. See also this article from the San Francisco Chronicle.

See also this article by Peter Chowka, this article by Michael Wright, this report by Celia Farber, this report by Joan Shenton, and this interview with Prof. Duesberg and Dr. Dave Rasnick.

You can sign an online petition to support President Mbeki.

PANEL PRESENTATIONS (JULY '00)

Prof. Peter Duesberg is a member of the South African government advisory panel on AIDS. Read his presentation about the South African AIDS "epidemic", presented at the second panel meeting in Pretoria.

The Perth Group does also participate in the presidential panel. Read their presentation about "HIV Testing and Surveillance".

Update: The contributions made by Dr. David Rasnick.

PANEL QUESTIONS RELIABILITY TESTS (JULY '00)

The panel advising the South African government, met for the second time. Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang opend the follow-up meeting in Durban. See this article from Reuters.

The panel concluded that there is no scientific data to validate the ELISA antibody tests. New studies will be setup to validate the reliability of these tests. See this Reuters report, this article from the New York Times, this SAPA article, this article from AFP, and this article from Village Voice. Read also this diary by a panel member.

See also this MuM press release, and this open letter by Anita Allen, this report from Huw Christi, and these interviews by Mark Conlan.

CONFESSION OF FAITH (JULY '00)

Scientists and doctors from around the world have started signing an e-mail, by Simon Wain-Hobson from the Institut Pasteur, which states that "the evidence that AIDS is caused by HIV-1 or HIV-2 is clear-cut, exhaustive and unambiguous." This confession of faith is being marketed as "The Durban Declaration", and has been published in Nature.

See this article from AFP, this article from Reuters, this article from the Washington Post, and this article from the New York Times.

A first reaction by the South African government can be found in this article from Reuters, and this article form SAPA. See this article for a second reaction.

A new dissident website has been set up with a rebuttal written by Robert Johnston, Matthew Irwin, and David Crowe. See also this press release by MuM, and the latest column by Nicholas Regush.

ACCIDENTS & VIOLENCE KILL, NOT HIV (JULY '00)

"The [South African] Home Affairs Department has denied blaming HIV/AIDS for a significant rise in the number of deaths of South Africans younger than 50 over the past 10 years... South African adults overwhelmingly die of accidents and violence." See the SAPA story.

MBEKI-BASHING CIRCUS (JULY '00)

President Mbeki opened the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban. "As I listened and heard the whole story about our own country, it seemed to me that we could not blame everything on a single virus." Watch part one / part two of his opening speech (Real player needed), or read it. See also this report from Reuters. Of the 10.000 people who attended the opening session, "hundreds walked out" during Mbeki's speech, lies the Washington Post. Scientists behind the socalled "Durban Declaration" (see below) had been due to hold a news conference before the start of the conference but it was canceled. See this article from the New York Times by EIS correspondent Lawrence Altman. Health Minister "Manto Tshabalala-Msimang... said South Africa was a proud nation that would devise its own health policies and would not bend to pressure to conform to the expectations of the industrialised world." See this SAPA report. "Thabo Mbeki... is fiddling while his country dies", writes CNN-Time. The conference has become a "Mbeki-bashing circus", says this SAPA article. "The President of this country is a man of great intellect who takes scientific thinking very seriously and he leads a government that I know to be committed to those principles of science and reason," said former president Nelson Mandela at the conference closing address. See also this Time Magazine article, this article from the Ghanaian Chronicle, this article from South Africa's Citizen, and this Reuters article.

TIME INTERVIEWS MBEKI (SEPT '00)

Time interviewed President Thabo Mbeki. "TIME: Are you prepared to acknowledge that there is a link between HIV and AIDS? Mbeki: No, I am saying that you cannot attribute immune deficiency solely and exclusively to a virus..." Read the interview. See also this report by Reuters, and this article from South Africa's The Star. Read about his remarks to parliament too.

REPLIES TO DURBAN DECLARATION (SEPT '00)

Nature has published a respons to the Durban Declaration (see also below), signed by several dissident scientists. A reply by the Perth Group was rejected by Nature.

See also this rebuttal by Robert Johnston, Matthew Irwin and David Crowe.

ANC BACKS MBEKI (OCT '00)

"A senior official of South Africa's ruling African National Congress stoked more controversy over AIDS by backing President Thabo Mbeki's view that the disease could not be caused by a single virus." says this Reuters article. Read the article by Smuts Ngonyama from Business Day. And see this article from AFP, and this one from SAPA.

MBEKI VS. DRUGS INC. (OCT '00)

At a 'closed' ANC meeting "President Thabo Mbeki has accused the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of working with drugs manufacturers to promote the link between the HIV virus and AIDS to boost profits." See this BBC article, this article from the Mail and Guardian, and this one from South Africa's The Sunday Times.

Mbeki "said one of the big drug companies (which he did not name) had confessed to him that it had wasted vast amounts of money trying to produce an anti-AIDS vaccine but had given up after it had failed to isolate the HI virus; but this company was hiding this fact in order to prevent its share price falling through the floor." (Mail and Guardian)

See also this SAPA report, about bugs in South African parliament.

PRESIDENT BACKS OFF? (OCT. '00)

"President Thabo Mbeki has told the ANC's highest decision-making body that he is withdrawing from the public debate on the science of HIV and AIDS," reports the SA Sunday Times. But Mbeki declared he was "still in debate", according to this article from SAPA.

Update: SAPA reports The President "re-opened the debate".

MBEKI-BASHING (DEC. '00)

"The year 2000 saw the birth of a new international sport. It became known as Mbeki-bashing. Newspapers, broadcast media, doctors and scientists, charities, UN agencies, financial institutions and politicians even up to the level of the White House joined in the fun." Read the article by Neville Hodgkinson for New African

See also this article by Baffour Ankomah, and this other article from New African.

PANEL REPORT RELEASED (APRIL '01)

The Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel Report has been released. See this announcement by the South African Minister of Health, and the (interim) panel report itself.

"The Group For the Scientific Reappraisal of AIDS welcomes and endorses the panel report from South Africa... All ten experiments proposed by AIDS dissidents on the panel were endorsed for funding by the South African Cabinet." See the press release by The Group, and this summary.

See this report from AP, this article from Reuters, this report from The Guardian, an article from South Africa's The Star, an article from SAPA, and another article from SAPA, an article from South Africa's Financial Mail, and an article from the New York Press.

"We can only hope that our government and the scientists concerned with do everything in their power to speed up the experiments explained in the report of the Presidential Panel." See this article from ANC Today.

"South Africa, said Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, had no immediate plans to use the landmark legal victory to obtain anti-retroviral AIDS drugs." Read more in this article from the Wall Street Journal.

"Coverage of the interim report of the Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel has been superficial and shows a complete deviation from balanced journalistic scrutiny expected in democracies." See this press statement by panel members.

President Mbeki was asked if he would take an AIDS test. See also this AP report, "Mbeki qestioned the need for people to take HIV tests, saying there was disagreement among scientists about what exactly was being tested."

SOUTH AFRICA (JUNE '01)

South Africa's "Health Ministry was emphatic that the government would not provide triple therapy of anti-retrovirals for the long-term management of AIDS." See this article.

"American singer and U.N. goodwill ambassador Harry Belafonte defended South African President Thabo Mbeki for creating a broader debate on the AIDS epidemic." See this Reuters report, and this article from SA's Business Day.

"South African President Thabo Mbeki again refused to link HIV with AIDS" read this AP release.

HAYMAN VS. GLAXO (JULY '01)

"A South African woman is citing President Mbeki�s controversial views on AIDS in a �100,000 legal action against the British manufacturer of the drugs she claims killed her husband." See this article from the U.K. Times, this article from SA's Sunday Independent, this article from the Sunday Times (SA), and this SAPA report.

See also the particulars of the claim.

Update: An article from UK's Sunday Times.

MBEKI IN THE NEWS (AUG '01)

"South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has attracted a storm of controversy for questioning the link between HIV and AIDS, said violence and not AIDS was the biggest killer in the country." See this Reuters report, and the BBC interview.

MBEKI IN THE NEWS (SEPT. '01)

"President Thabo Mbeki has ordered a re-examination of SA's social policy spending priorities in the light of 1995 "cause of death" statistics he has extracted from the internet." See this article from South Africa's Business Day, and the letter from Mbeki. See also this article from AFP, this Reuters report, and this article from SAPA.

SOUTH AFRICAN STUDY (OCT. '01)

"AIDS has become the biggest single killer of South Africans, the South African Medical Research Council reports in a study." (.pdf file) See this article from SA's Daily Mail and Guardian, and this article from SA's Business Day.

"The ANC has dismissed as "not credible" the Medical Research Council's findings that AIDS is the leading killer in South Africa." See this article from The Star, see also this government statement, and this statement by Stats SA.

See also this Reuters report, and this report.

President Thabo Mbeki had to answer some questions from the Parliament. See this report.

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