Manto will be remembered for her failure to fight Aids

MANTO Tshabalala-Msimang, South Africa’s controversial former health minister has died.

She was controversial because of the stance that she took — backed by her then boss, President Thabo Mbeki — against rolling out anti-retroviral drugs to those with HIV/Aids.
Tshabalala-Msimang and Mbeki have been blamed for an estimated 330 000 preventable deaths according to a study by academics at Harvard University.
But it was not always so.
Few will remember now that it was her predecessor, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was first criticised for failing to properly address the Aids crisis.
In fact she made a very good impression on taking office.
One of the first things she did was to visit Uganda, then a leading example of how a relatively under-resourced government could mount a successful national campaign against Aids.
Zambia’s political leaders, in stark contrast to South Africa’s, mounted a strong public campaign calling for the use of condoms and the destigmatisation of those who had it.
Tshabalala-Msimang, it seemed, would finally get government’s Aids programme working.
But it was not to be. Under the shadow of an openly denialist Mbeki, she grew increasingly taciturn and eventually became the number one enemy of those lobbying for government to roll out Aids treatment.
She famously fought an application in the Constitutional Court for the roll out of Nevirapine, then the leading drug for the prevention of mother-to-child Aids transmission.
Tshabalala Msimang made a big contribution to the liberation of South Africa. But her legacy will sadly remain that of the minister who cost this country thousands of lives.