Dr Essop Pahad: The President's efforts in fight against Aids

Consider the statement: "The Government commits itself to intensify the campaign against HIV and Aids and to improve its implementation of all elements of the comprehensive approach such as prevention, home-based care and treatment."

And add this: "We shall ensure that the partnerships built over the years are strengthened, and that our improved national comprehensive strategy against Aids and sexually transmitted infections is finalised as soon as possible."

The words were spoken by the President of South Africa not long ago. Are they the words of a President "in denial" over the Aids epidemic in his country? The answer must be an emphatic: No!

The Independent of 10 August, in a piece billed "A President in denial, a ravaged nation denied hope", says: "Thabo Mbeki's stance on Aids has left South Africa with the world's worst HIV epidemic. Yesterday, he silenced the woman fighting to end the suffering of millions."

The paper was referring to the dismissal of a deputy minister (of health) by President Mbeki. The appointments and dismissals of ministers are within the absolute prerogative of the head of Government of South Africa, and they do happen in the domestic politics of nations the world over without necessarily triggering such dark conclusions.

Yet in this case the event is emblazoned across the front page as if it represents a new and disastrous turn in the destiny of South Africa in fighting Aids.

The attempt to use this domestic event to rubbish the stance of the Mbeki government on HIV and Aids is as far-fetched as it is ridiculous. Our commitment to fight the scourge, and to treat the sufferers quickly and effectively, remains as strong as ever.

The remarks by President Mbeki quoted above, made in his State of the Nation address when he opened Parliament this year, serve as corroboration. It was President Mbeki, as Deputy President under President Nelson Mandela, who carried the banner of the fight against Aids in the 1990s, then into his Presidency from 1999, the lapel Aids ribbon being his trademark wherever he went.

Mr Mbeki now leads a government which has received UN and world commendation for its anti-Aids efforts. South Africa is in the forefront of the search for an effective vaccine. The health authorities run a regularly updated and increasingly costly programme of both prevention and treatment which is accepted in informed quarters as one of the most comprehensive and extensive to be found in the world.

And who would deny that the country's splendid economic showing under President Mbeki has underpinned its capacity to pay the high cost necessary? Moreover, the Mbeki government was in the forefront of the campaign to have the cost of Aids drugs reduced.

It is necessary to reassure people that there is no hesitation on the road to beating this scourge. The digging up of old controversies merely confuses the issues. So is point-scoring designed to discredit a leader who has reaped world renown as a man of peace and insight.

The scourge we face is too great for such indulgences. Even if one concedes that, in epochal matters such as this, there is room for differences over style and presentation of policy, it should be recognised that there is now no significant argument in South Africa about content.

It is time to call on people everywhere - notably our friends abroad who stood by us so solidly in past conflict - to work with us and help us to intensify this new struggle, so the stunning success achieved when we threw off the yoke of repression in 1994 can be matched, even eclipsed, in facing the challenge. It is not only a national but a world scourge. And we shall win the battle, in the same combined spirit which served to banish apartheid.

The author is Minister in The Presidency, South Africa