Mandela Attacks Mbeki's Aids Policy

Nelson Mandela is wading into the increasingly bitter dispute over the South African government's Aids policies by meeting the ruling African National Congress leadership today to press for an end to prevarication over a catastrophe he likened to a war.

Mr Mandela has been under pressure from Aids activists, scientists, trade unions and the churches to challenge the controversial policies of President Thabo Mbeki towards a disease that is expected to kill about 6m South Africans by the end of the decade.

In his most significant foray into politics since he retired as president nearly three years ago, Mr Mandela told a Johannesburg newspaper yesterday that he will be seeking to persuade the ANC leadership to curtail a futile debate about the causes of Aids and focus on combating the disease.

"This is a war. It has killed more people than has been the case in all previous wars and in all previous natural disasters. We must not continue to be debating, to be arguing, when people are dying," he told the Johannesburg Sunday Times.

Mr Mbeki has attempted to quell criticism abroad by saying that while he questions the link between HIV and Aids, the only obstacles to treating the disease are a lack of resources and the need to test drugs. But at home, the government's continued refusal to allow the universal distribution of medicines that can prevent HIV-positive mothers from passing the virus on to their babies - despite a high court ruling ordering it to provide the drugs - is driving a growing wave of condemnation of Mr Mbeki.

Aids activists and doctors believe the government is throwing up irrelevant questions about the effectiveness of drugs and claims of lack of financial resources as a smokescreen for inaction.

They were particularly angered when the finance minister, Trevor Manuel, told the World Economic Forum last month that South Africa would not be seeking money from the global Aids fund because the problem is not cash but the lack of infrastructure to deliver treatment.

Last month, the South African Medical Association told doctors to defy government policy and prescribe anti-retroviral drugs to raped women.

The Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane, was widely applauded two weeks ago after he said that the government is "sinning" by "withholding truth and maintaining the silence of denial" over Aids.

Mr Mandela has criticised the government's prevarication over Aids before. On one occasion his criticism drew a sharp rebuke from Mr Mbeki's office. It is, however, the first time that he has actively sought to change government policy.

The former president said that after the discussions today he wants a meeting with the party's entire national executive committee. "I have got difficulties on questions of this nature. This is why I am meeting the ANC, so that we can sort out our differences," he said.

Mr Mandela's relationship with the leadership of the ANC has cooled considerably since Mr Mbeki came to power in 1999. In yesterday's newspaper interview, Mr Mandela was circumspect in his criticism of his successor, but he made clear that he is among those who are concerned that Mr Mbeki has created a climate within the ANC which has stifled criticism and promoted "hero worship".

"I have constantly warned that the ANC has got a long and established tradition of collective leadership. It is not one man who decides, it is the organisation. And this task of nation-building is not just done by one individual, it is a collective effort."