The end of an era

Former health minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang passed away yesterday, on South Africa’s Day of Reconciliation December 16, at the age of 69.

Condolences are due to her family and loved ones as they grieve.

But I don’t think respect and reconciliation require being silent about her disastrous mistakes – estimated to amount to at least 330 000 lives lost to AIDS between 2000 and 2005.

Yes, she was a veteran activist who committed her youth to overcoming injustice and apartheid and she should be honoured for that. But her leadership as as health minister for almost decade (1999 to 2009) was catastrophic.

The book “The Virus, Vitamins & Vegetables, The SA HIV/AIDS mystery” – in which I have a vested interest having written a chapter -documents how she and former President Thabo Mbeki allowed the HIV/AIDS epidemic to spiral out of control and obstructed the rollout of antiretroviral treatment.

“The book chronics the tragedy that unfolds when leaders choose to play with people’s lives”, former deputy health minister, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, said at its launch.

“Dr No” didn’t only do untold damage in HIV/AIDS, she also exacerbated the decline of the public health system in many ways, including driving dedicated doctors out of the public service and undermining scientific programmes.

As Professor Francois Venter, president of the HIV Clinicians Society of Southern Africa, said: “The family should be allowed to grieve in privacy.

“Equally, political leaders should keep eulogizing to a bare minimum, to respect the large number of people who died unnecessarily of HIV or who suffered at the hands of a decimated health system.”

Today Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, extended condolences to those who grieve for her passing and urged South Africans to move forward determined to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS.

“Let us use the death of Dr Tshabalala-Msimang as a milestone on our journey, a signpost towards a future with an Aids-free South Africa,” he urged. Let’s do that.

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