Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 26, 2006
Belinda Beresford
Khabzela stopped taking anti-retrovirals (ARVs) and died as a result of Aids at the age of 35 in January 2004. A book published last year, Khabzela: The Life and Times of a South African, says Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang recommended Van der Maas to him.
The Dutch publication Trouw also reports the subsequent death of at least some residents of a Bloemfontein township who underwent a treatment experiment by Van der Maas in collaboration with the local Red Cross.
"I am extremely mad," Red Cross worker Prosper Mosime is reported as saying. "We believed in the ideas she [Van der Maas] told us about. Our co-workers even introduced her to patients; other doctors and organisations in the city did the same. Now we realise this was a big mistake."
Dutch Aids expert Ricus Dullaert of the Aids organisation Cordaid describes her in Trouw as "a criminal quack that should be locked up". He adds: "She has a big influence on the health minister, and that is fatal."
Van der Maas's cellphone was turned off this week and she could not be contacted.
This week, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) blamed Van der Maas and Tshabalala-Msimang for Bhengu's death, pointing out that the minister had introduced the Dutch woman to her and that she had adopted the latter's dietary "treatment programme" in place of ARVs.
Bhengu and her mother, former MP Ruth Bhengu, received much praise for combating the silence and stigma surrounding HIV/Aids when Ruth Bhengu revealed her daughter's HIV status in a moving speech in Parliament in 2001.
Nozipho Bhengu went on ARVs, but decided to stop taking them during the first week as a result of the side effects. HIV clinicians say the most unpleasant side effects from ARV treatment generally occur within the first two months.
In June last year, Bhengu announced that she was the "scientific proof" that Van der Maas's diet worked after being on it for three years, and that her CD4 count had gone up to 134 from 55.
After her death last Friday, the TAC issued a statement condemning Van der Maas, Tshabalala-Msimang and others who advocate nutrition or untested herbal medicines as a substitute for ARVs.
Reacting, the Bhengu family accused the TAC of seeking to make political capital from the death, adding that Bhengu had the right to choose her treatment. Family spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu was quoted as saying that Bhengu was scared of the side effects of ARVs, but had never condemned their use.
Scientists, healthcare workers and activists believe that improving nutrition, especially in people with poor-quality diets, can improve health. The controversy arises when self-styled nutritional experts and healers claim that nutrition is a substitute for ARVs for people with late-stage Aids.
Van der Maas is sceptical about Aids and claims that nobody need die of the disease. "Do not believe what you hear in the media. Do not believe the TAC or the media when they say you will die if you do not take ARVs. It is not true!"
She recommends a diet of olive oil, lemons, garlic and other supplements, as well as a concoction called Africa's Solution, which she describes as a lifelong wellness programme.
On her website, she also says "many diseases, including Aids, TB, diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, arthritis, epileptic fits, stomach ulcers, cataracts, et cetera can be overcome" as a result of improved nutrition. She is reported to claim that cancer can also be cured by her diet.
According to Trouw, Van der Maas does not believe sex has anything to do with HIV/Aids. She reportedly advises patients that they need not use a condom to protect themselves from infection.
A Dutch citizen trained as a nurse, Van der Maas claims to have given her treatment advice to more than 40 000 people since 1995, but has no record of what happened to most of her patients. She is reported to have said that if people are well they will not call her, and that since most patients have not contacted her, her programme must be working.
Last year Tshabalala-Msimang showed a video made by Van der Maas, which featured Aids sufferers allegedly restored to health after a few months on the dietary programme. Van der Maas is known to give nutritional advice to the minister, who in turn recommends patients to her.
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