The ANC wants us to believe news that President Jacob Zuma has fathered yet another child out of wedlock (and hence that he has had sex with yet another woman who is not one if his wives without using a condom) is a private matter. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya is quoted as saying that Zuma’s right to [...]
Posts under ‘HIV/AIDS’
World Aids Day
Today is World Aids Day. In South Africa, perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, we may want to take a moment to ponder the significance of this day as South Africa now has more H.I.V.-infected people and annual AIDS deaths than any other in the world. As someone personally affected by HIV, this is an important [...]
On Julius Malema, HIV and democracy
I must admit it made a welcome change: Instead of cringing with embarrassment, I sat at the traffic light and gave a little cheer when I heard on the radio what ANC Youth League President Julius Malema had said about HIV/AIDS. Speaking at the Pan African Youth Union, Malema said it is up to Africa’s youth to stop [...]
Thabo Mbeki’s strange relationship with the truth continues
Politicians call it “plausible deniability”. One makes a statement that everyone who hears it believes to mean X. The generally accepted meaning of X is, however, untrue. But one has parsed the words in such a way that one could always later claim never to have said what everyone thought one had said – even [...]
Death comes to the Free State
We are living in the silly season in the run-up to the election, so reports in today’s Cape Times about the collapse of the ARV roll-out in the Free State should be big news. Here we have an ANC government who in November last year decided to kill off some of the poorest of the [...]
On “deliberate falsehoods” and conspiracies
Why is it that South Africans so love conspiracies and are so quick to believe in them? Your paper not delivered this morning? Must be a conspiracy involving various journalists, the tooth fairy and maybe Father Christmas (or Santa Clause as they call the ugly fat guy with the cotton wool beard here in the USA). [...]
Kgalema Motlanthe, HIV/AIDS and the ANC
The Presidency of Thabo Mbeki was in many ways an utter disaster. Insecure, angry, vindictive and far too sure of his own ability to know everything and be the cleverest person in the room, Mbeki acted in ways that had devastating effects on especially poor and black South Africans. This was never more evident than [...]
No wonder she had been drinking…..
The Science Daily reports on new research about the estimated amount of lives lost because of the delay in implementing a comprehensive antiretroviral programme in South Africa. It compares the situation in South Africa to that in neighbouring countries and come to the following conclusion:
More than 330,000 lives were lost to HIV/AIDS in South Africa [...]
Who will replace Judge Madala?
The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) is currently interviewing candidates to fill the post of Justice Tholie Madala on the Constitutional Court. Business Day reports this morning that two of the six judges who are candidates for appointment to the Constitutional Court — Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Chris Jafta and Grahamstown High Court Judge Frank [...]
Arrested and convicted for being HIV positive and gay in Egypt
Out of Egypt – our fellow African country up north – comes the disturbing news report that four HIV positive men and one of their friends had been convicted and sentenced to three years in jail for being HIV positive and thus assumed to be homosexual. The defense lawyer for the five, Adel Ramadan, said [...]
