CAPE TOWN, Aug 10 (AFP) - In a sign that South Africa's AIDS debate continues to rage even after a radical shift in government policy, an opposition leader called for President Thabo Mbeki to apologise and his health minister to resign, in comments published Sunday.
Bantu Holomisa, the leader of the opposition party the United Democratic Movement, told the City Press newspaper that Mbeki and Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang should apologise for making incorrect judgements.
"I don't think that Tshabalala-Msimang has been making correct judgments," he said.
"What needs to happen now is for both the minister and Mbeki to come out and apologise to the public," he said.
The government has avoided implementing an AIDS treatment programme, despite a United Nations claim that nearly 1,000 people die each day among a total of nearly five million South Africans who are infected with HIV or suffer from full-blown AIDS.
On Friday, however, the cabinet instructed the health ministry to develop a detailed operational plan to make antiretroviral drugs available to HIV and AIDS sufferers by the end of September.
The decision follows an international AIDS conference last week in the east coast city of Durban where the government took a barrage of criticism for its failure to implement a national treatment plan.
Holomisa, who was a leading figure within the ruling African National Congress early in Nelson Mandela's presidency, said Tshabalala-Msimang should step down.
"The cabinet's decision effectively suggests that Tshabalala-Msimang should resign as she was responsible for the delay," he said.
Tshabalala-Msimang, a physician, has fought bitterly with AIDS activists, refusing to budge on the implementation of an AIDS treatment programme and defending a government policy of promoting "nutritious diets".
She has been quoted saying antiretrovirals are "poison" and that a combination of garlic, onions, olive oil and the African potato would boost the immune systems of people with AIDS.
It is widely believed that Tshabalala-Msimang has taken her cue from Mbeki, who has stated that factors other than HIV could cause AIDS.
Mike Waters, the health spokesman for the oppostion Democratic Alliance, also called for Tshabalala-Msimang's resignation.
"Unfortunately, if Dr Tshabalala-Msimang is in charge of this programme we don't hold too much hope that it will succeed.
"She is identified with the failure of the government's HIV policies; a new personality is needed to transform it into a success," he said.
South Africans, although welcoming the government decision to provide treatment to AIDS sufferers, are only cautiously optimistic.
Monica Ledwaba, who works as a domestic worker in Cape Town, said knew many people with AIDS in South Africa's townships, and that the government's decision would boost their morale.
"No one can afford AIDS drugs -- it is very expensive to get treatment," she said.
"Maybe now things will change, but I don't really know if anything ever will happen. So many people have died from AIDS, why did the government not do something a long time ago?"
Solomon Mkhize, a security guard in Cape Town, said the decision did not make much difference to him, but he also believed that the government was playing political games.
"I only have sex with my wife, not with ever with every women in sight, like many other men do, so luckily I do not have to worry about AIDS," he said.
"But the government has not been reliable on the AIDS issue in the past. How can we be expected to trust them now?"
Jenny Boyce, who is HIV-positive and is receiving treatment, said it would be up to groups like the activist Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) to ensure that the government stuck to its promise.
"It is up to civil society and groups like the TAC to ensure government delivers," she said.
"It is devastating when HIV sufferers come to me and say I am looking so well after starting treatment, where can they get onto a programme," she said.
"Before I could only say: 'Put your name on a waiting list for a privately funded treatment project.' Today I can tell them: 'Just keep yourself well, the government is going to implement a treatment programme soon.'"
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