ANC leaders test for AIDS in KZN

African National Congress (ANC) leaders including its provincial chairman Zweli Mkhize on Monday tested for HIV during the launch of its provincial HIV awareness campaign.

“Our provincial executive committee leaders have tested for HIV. This is part of the province’s HIV awareness campaign,” said ANC spokeswoman Nomfundo Mcetywa.

The decision to test for HIV was taken during the party’s provincial executive committee meeting held in Pinetown.

The tests were conducted by the department of health.

That comes a day before World Aids Day and after 15 years of denialism by ANC office-bearers in Government, such as former health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang .

AIDS denialism is a set of beliefs held by a connected group of individuals and organizations who deny that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

The evidence that HIV causes AIDS is considered scientifically conclusive, and AIDS-denialist claims have been rejected or ignored by the scientific community as based on faulty reasoning, cherry picking, and misrepresentation of predominantly outdated scientific data.

Despite its lack of scientific acceptance, AIDS denialism has had a significant political impact, particularly in South Africa under the presidency of Thabo Mbeki . Scientists and physicians have raised alarm at the human cost of AIDS denialism, which discourages HIV-positive people from utilizing proven treatments.

Public health researchers in South Africa and at Harvard University have independently investigated the impact of AIDS denialism. Their estimates attribute 330,000 to 340,000 AIDS deaths, 171,000 HIV infections and 35,000 infant HIV infections to the South African government's former embrace of AIDS denialism