Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - November 7, 2008
Martin Plaut, BBC Africa analyst
A Harvard School of Public Health study said the deaths were caused by Mr Mbeki's decision in 1999 to declare the available drugs toxic and dangerous.
He had decided that the government would not provide the treatment.
Mr Mbeki's spokesman referred media enquiries to the government, but no spokesman was available to comment.
The study, published on 20 October, said that as a result of Mr Mbeki's policies, nearly 35,000 babies were also born HIV positive between 2000 and 2005.
The former president had failed to roll out the drugs which could have prevented mother-to-child transmission, said the researchers.
The study, led by Dr Pride Chigwedere, accused the South African government of "acting as a major obstacle in the provision of medication to patients with Aids".
The authors said that under the leadership of Mr Mbeki, the government had restricted use of donated anti-retroviral drugs and blocked funds for more than a year from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
'Blood on his hands'
To estimate the benefits they say were lost to South Africans because of the failure to provide appropriate drugs between 2000 and 2005, the researchers looked at a number of factors.
These included:
* the number of patients who died without receiving treatment
* the relative cost of the drugs and the resources available
* comparative treatment programmes in Namibia and Botswana
Zackie Achmat, who leads the Treatment Action Campaign, which successfully lobbied for the eventual reversal of government policy, claimed Mr Mbeki had "blood on his hands".
He told the BBC Mr Mbeki had ignored the scientific evidence and called for the former president to be summoned to a judicial inquiry or the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to explain his decisions.
Since the former president was replaced in September 2008 a new Health Minister, Barbara Hogan, has been appointed and she has been praised by Aids campaigners for tackling the HIV issue with determination.
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