Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 19, 2001
Suzan Chala

Yet it took two days to get him to talk about the HIV/Aids pandemic. Moloko suspected the motive for this interview was to "character assassinate" him. After what seemed like a lifetime of explaining the need for this interview, he eventually relaxed and began answering questions on the government's HIV/Aids policy.

He was, however, extremely forthright in his critique of the South African media's coverage of Aids. When asked if he thinks the ANC was handling the issue correctly, he answered: "The media should criticise constructively and also try to come up with possible solutions to the problems." Moloko believes the media is misrepresenting facts about the ANC's Aids policy, and in the process "confusing the public".

He denies recent media reports that committee members were not consulted in formulating the ANC's response to the Medical Research Council report, saying that they were "not true" and that the media was "trying to create an impression that there are divisions in the committee".

He said pronouncements made by the minister of health are a result of "collective agreement". Members of the ANC health committee may hold different views or opinions but, "like in any debate, people come to an agreement and abide by it, but that doesn't mean that debates around that issue cannot continue".

He ducks a question on his view of the government's Aids policy, by answering: "The position of the movement is: all programmes in this country, in and outside government, are based on the thesis that HIV causes Aids". He refuses to comment on President Thabo Mbeki's stance, advising that journalists focus on the policy of the party and "not on an individual".

He strongly disagrees with the view that Mbeki disregards scientific evidence about the pandemic. "The president acts on information from experts," he said. "No scientists can claim to fully understand any disease, especially HIV/Aids which is less than 20 years old."

Moloko is one of the people who wrote a discussion document last year recommending that the ANC recognise mistakes made in its handling of the HIV/Aids epidemic. He believes there has been progress since.

Known to his friends as Confy, the slightly built, bespectacled man was born in Pietersburg 42 years ago. He supported the provision of anti-retroviral medication to pregnant mothers at some public hospitals that started early this year.

Moloko holds a BSc (Med) and MBChB degrees from the Medical University of Southern Africa (Medunsa). He completed his secondary education at Pax Boys' College - a Roman Catholic School in Pietersburg.

He has been a loyal member of the ANC for 18 years and started his involvement in the struggle as a young student. "I looked for the ANC, but the ANC did not recruit me," he says.

In 1978 he enrolled at the University of the North for a BSc degree - it was at this time that he made his name in the political world, influenced by Ngwako Ramatlhodi, now Northern Province Premier. He left the university in 1979 because of "oppressive learning conditions" and completed his degree at Medunsa.

He co-founded the Azanian Students Organisation, which had strong black consciousness leanings, in 1979 and was a secretary of the students' representative council at Medunsa.

His friends describe him as a "born leader". He was a leader in the United Democratic Front in the Transvaal, in the National Education Crisis Committee and in the Catholic Student Association.

His colleague and friend, Dr Norman Mabasa, describes him as "not fearful" and illustrates this by the fact that he survived an interrogation by the security police who kidnapped and tortured him in the 1980s. He was offered a job to spy for the security police and, regardless of their threats, refused.

"Confy is the kind of a person who would die for what he believes in. He is frank, forthright and incisive," says Mabasa, who has known Moloko since medical school.

The father of three children had undergone military training in Angola and became a member of the returnees' committee in the Northern Province that was responsible for the coordination of the return of exiled South Africans.

A colleague describes Moloko as "always calculating everything he says". This was apparent during the Mail & Guardian interview. Moloko answers all questions very carefully, with a smile and maintains his calm. He constantly tries to find out why he is being asked certain questions.

"I know how journalists work, I also know how you people can manipulate things," he said.

Moloko has been described by a colleague, Dr Saadiq Kariem, who had been working with him for almost a decade in the health committee, as a "calm, very principled man of integrity".
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