Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - July 12, 2002
Charlene Smith
Mark Heywood, director of the Aids Law Project, interviewed at the 14th International Aids Conference in Barcelona, said that "the R720-million grant for the Enhancing Care Initiative of KwaZulu-Natal was part of a well-thought-out proposal for prevention, care and treatment".
"The Ministry of Health, and the minister of health in particular, is trying to block that grant. It is urgent that this situation be resolved quickly."
In a tense stand-off with UNAids director Peter Piot last Sunday, Tshabalala-Msimang reportedly said that South Africa was capable of managing and funding its own Aids programmes, "without outside interference".
Earlier that day a journalist had recorded her saying that nevirapine was poisoning "my people".
Tshabalala-Msimang has not blocked similar grants to loveLife for R68-million and to Soul City for R28-million from the Global Fund, but they lacked any provision for treatment and care.
The government's own application for money from the fund was turned down, but it was invited to resubmit an application for the second round of funding in September.
The TAC said it might bring an urgent legal action against the government if it did not agree to the funds for KwaZulu-Natal within the required period, which ends in two weeks.
The grant would fund prevention, care and treatment for more than four million people in the province hardest hit by Aids in one of the most extensive and dramatic programmes in the world.
The programme has aroused intense international interest and approval. In a powerful speech in Barcelona yesterday, Gra a Machel, wife of former president Nelson Mandela, said that "governments must design and implement strategies that are as comprehensive as the virus itself. We must have prevention, and a continuum of care and treatment within one paradigm."
But South Africa, which managed to become the focus of controversy two years ago at the conference in Durban, is again the object of intense criticism.
In March governments around the world submitted applications to the Global Fund for funding to combat Aids. In April, the UN announced successful candidates.
Earlier this week Piot said that governments that blocked funding for care and treatment projects may in future have to be bypassed, with funding going to civil society instead, "as happened under apartheid".
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