South Africa’s ruling party the African National Congress, ANC, has given its top officials a document that questions the existence of AIDS, condemns AIDS drugs as poisonous and describes Western attitudes to the pandemic in Africa as blatant racism.
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The document was a collective effort by several high-ranking ANC officials and was distributed by the party to members of its National Executive Council at a meeting to discuss the government's AIDS policy, according to Mr Peter Mokaba, an ANC parliamentarian and member of the council.
Mr Mokaba defended the document, saying it was important to see both sides of the AIDS debate. He described the release of the document as "information sharing in the ANC."
Dr Saadiq Kariem, the party's second-ranking official on health policy, called the document "ludicrous" and worried it could confuse South Africans about how to prevent the spread of HIV.
"It's irresponsible for senior leaders of the ANC to be putting out documents of this nature. It sends out a confused message," he said. "In the end of the day the ANC will be the laughingstock of the world."
South Africa, with an estimated 4.7 million people infected with HIV, has come under a hail of international criticism for its perceived lackadaisical efforts to fight the pandemic.
It has resisted starting a widespread program to give the AIDS drug nevirapine to infected pregnant mothers to prevent the spread of HIV to their babies during labour.
It has ruled out providing anti-retroviral AIDS medicine through the public health system, emphasising the side effects of the medicine.
The document questioned the "scientific story that is told about the HIV/AIDS pandemic." The 114-page thesis intersperses quotes from news stories, dissident theorists and mainstream scientists with conclusions from the authors.
The document, which repeatedly condemns the "omnipotent apparatus" that enforces mainstream belief of AIDS, claims no one has ever isolated the AIDS virus, HIV tests are absolutely ineffective and AIDS drugs are poisonous.
Africans are "the latest victim of scare mongering" about AIDS, the document says.
It calls on South Africans not to be "bribed or intimidated" by drug companies who mistakenly believe the nation's people can be "bought and terrorised."
AFP