Mbeki should take HIV test: Achmat

18 Dec 2006- South Africa- President Thabo Mbeki should indeed go for a public HIV test, Treatment Action Campaign leader Zackie Achmat said today.

"Every business leader, every political leader, every trade union leader, should test publicly," Achmat said.

"Every church leader should. And our president. Including our president."

His remarks followed a furore over a news report that Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge had said Mbeki should go for a test.

Madlala-Routledge has denied the report, saying that while she believed it was helpful for people in leadership positions to be tested, she had not specifically mentioned Mbeki.

Speaking at the handover of a R500,000 cheque to TAC by Levi Strauss SA in Cape Town, Achmat said his call for Mbeki to get tested was not a political stunt.

"The government talks about personal responsibility. And many people in our country... need to accept personal responsibility for our health," he said.

"Personal responsibility is not just the job of poor people. Personal responsibility starts at the top."

He said Mbeki, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and the whole Cabinet should follow the examples set by senior African National Congress MP Kader Asmal, former justice minister Dullah Omar, and Madlala-Routledge herself, who was publicly tested last month along with her husband and son.

According to Achmat only two out of every ten HIV-positive people currently knew their status.

He also called on business to play a political advocacy role on HIV/Aids, saying it was not facing up to the reality of the disease in South Africa.

To his knowledge, the only business leader who had spoken out strongly about denialism in government had been Virgin’s Richard Branson.

Speaking out was in business’ long term interest in terms of creating jobs and running a healthy economy. "They may not think it’s in their interests now. Maybe government will get cross with them now, maybe they won’t get that tender in this round.

"But in the long term it is in their interests, because in the long term they’ll lose a lot more than that tender," Achmat said.

He said Levi Strauss was one of only two businesses - the other was the HCI Foundation - that contributed directly to TAC’s work.

Levi Strauss’ contribution had helped TAC test 10,000 people, of whom 3,000 had been put on government treatment programmes.

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