JOHANNESBURG, Feb 20 (AFP) - The South African Communist Party on Wednesday called for an urgent meeting with its political and trade union alliance partners to get the AIDS drug Nevirapine to pregnant women nationwide.

"Our people and communities expect decisive leadership and action on HIV/AIDS from our government and the ANC-SACP-COSATU alliance as a whole," an SACP statement said.

The Communist Party (SACP), ruling African National Congress (ANC) party and powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) -- a federation claiming 1.7 million members -- are long-time allies.

But the SACP and COSATU broke ranks with the ANC over its HIV/AIDS policy.

Both organisations have challenged the ANC to make the anti-retroviral drug Nevirapine immediately available to all pregnant women with HIV, contrary to national government policy that it should be initially distributed only to 18 test sites.

The SACP's demand for a tripartite alliance meeting came after Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang slammed the powerful premier of the country's industrial heartland, Gauteng province, for announcing a full Nevirapine roll-out on Monday.

Nevirapine, of which manufacturer Boehringer-Ingelheim has offered South Africa a five-year supply, has been widely promoted by campaigners as a means to save at least 20,000 babies' lives each year.

Tshabalala-Msimang accused premier Mbhazima Shilowa, whose province includes the capital Pretoria and Johannesburg, of breaching national ANC policy.

The SACP said that Tshabalala-Msimang's statement was inconsistent with a report and commitments she made at a weekend meeting of the Communist Party's central committee.

"The SACP central committee understood that government is using the 18 pilot projects (in the country) to research the provision of Nevirapine, its efficacy and related capacity and resource issues which must be addressed with a view that provinces which are ready must start with the provision of Nevirapine."

The health minister, who has repeatedly asserted that the authorities need to wait for Nevirapine trial results and overcome training and staffing difficulties before the drug is widely distributed, was described by COSATU as an "embarrassment" after her statement Tuesday.

Through her spokesman, Sibani Mngadi, Tshabalala-Msimang said the Gauteng decision was "contrary to the resolution adopted by all (provincial) health ministers and herself during a meeting last month."

The radical Pan Africanist Congress on Wednesday also condemned the minister.

"The public spat between Mbhazima Shilowa and the minister reflects not only poor leadership but a petty quarrel on an issue that affects the lives of South Africans that these two leaders claim to represent," a PAC press release said.

Shilowa's decision was widely hailed by AIDS treatment activists and a rebellious medical profession as a major breakthrough, since Gauteng is the first of South Africa's provinces governed by the ANC alone to announce such a move.

The two others are KwaZulu-Natal, where the ruling party shares power with the Inkatha Freedom Party, and the Western Cape, where the ANC has an alliance with the New National Party.

Several of Wednesday's newspapers expressed outrage at Tshabalala-Msimang's approach and commended Shilowa for his unrepentant defiance.

"Do it now, Mbeki!" trumpetted the Daily Star, urging President Thabo Mbeki to have his government provide Nevirapine to all HIV-positive expectant mothers.

"Minister, you blundered," the paper said on its front page.

"Aids rocks ANC," The Sowetan said, reporting that the party "is facing its deepest crisis since coming to power".

In an editorial called "A grave mistake", Business Day warned the government against again "making the country look like a basket case from abroad and alienating its own support base at home".

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