KHOPOTSO: It all started when journalists previewed the Khomanani exhibition ‘€“ government’€™s communication programme on TB, STI’€™s and HIV.  Included in the exhibition were male and female condoms, food parcels, vitamin supplements, olive oil and bowls of beetroot, garlic, lemons and African potatoes. These items have become synonymous with Health Minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’€™s name. Missing were antiretrovirals, which were added as an afterthought just before the exhibition officially opened. The debate amongst South African journalists centred on ‘€˜what did the exclusion of ARVs from the exhibition signify?’€™ There was a general agreement that it had to do with what appears to be the Minister’€™s sustained campaign to exclusively promote nutrition and traditional medicines in the treatment of AIDS. It was indeed demoralising what the gesture suggested. But was it worth the media’€™s while to be reporting back to South Africans on this? Dr Francois Venter of the Reproductive Health & HIV Research Unit in Johannesburg, felt it would have been better to focus on other issues.

Dr FRANCOIS VENTER: We must stop focussing on the Minister’€™s pronouncements. There are very complex debates that need to come out here. We need to say, ‘€˜okay, Minister, you say what you need to say. But there’€™s important stuff to discuss here. Do we want circumcision? Do we want to use triple therapy for pregnant women? ‘€¦ What’€™s the best way to get antiretrovirals to half a million people a year in South Africa?’€™ Those are all real complex debates. They are not about good and evil and the Minister and everybody else. It’€™s about trying to grapple with what is a very complex problem. So, in many ways, I almost wish that we could just ignore the Minister for a moment and get on with looking at the data, the new stuff that’€™s coming out of this conference and getting on with our work because it’€™s hard work.

KHOPOTSO: The Minister was not a significant part of the conference at all. She was not invited to speak anywhere except to officially open the South African exhibition.

Dr FRANCOIS VENTER: There’€™s a lot more to be said about this conference than the Minister of Health. In fact, she’€™s a relatively minor part of it compared to the previous ones where she’€™s talked about Nevirapine and resistance. She made a huge fuss about that. And that was a significant intervention. This one, I personally think is a relatively minor little blip on the landscape. I think much more of an issue here at the moment is the lack of voice of people with HIV.  

KHOPOTSO: But she did manage to steal the show. Her Khomanani exhibition attracted a lot of attention. And for the Minister, that was an accomplishment.

Dr MANTO TSHABALALA-MSIMANG: I think if you move around it is the only stand where you see nutrition, where you see all manner of things’€¦ This is a stand that has been visited by many, many people’€¦ At its launch you could see for yourselves ‘€“ there were quite a number of people unlike other stands.            

KHOPOTSO: The Minister does not seem to care as to why the exhibition attracted so much attention. In a strange way, it would seem that no matter how much negative coverage she gets, she still is the winner, as the media conveys her message to a larger audience. And when we do so, we seldom counter her argument nor do we seek to explain the context within which her pronouncements should be understood. And I doubt if that is to the benefit of our audiences. But even non-journalists agree that it is difficult to ignore what the Minister says.

Dr FRANCOIS VENTER: It is news that a Minister of Health can make, sometimes, very odd pronouncements. She has a lot of power’€¦ I think most journalists are sharing your tiredness. But, I think it is newsworthy and I think it is difficult to say we mustn’€™t report on something when it actually is news-worthy.

KHOPOTSO: Tshabalala-Msimang won’€™t be shut up on her views on nutrition and traditional medicine in the treatment of AIDS, not in the least by the media. In fact, she has even put her plan on the agenda for other African governments to follow in the Year for the Acceleration of HIV Prevention in Africa, launched recently. The challenge for the media is not to be alarmist in its reporting of her unconventional wisdom with regard to AIDS treatment. It is a great pity that the headline news from the AIDS conference was the Minister and her stance on AIDS treatment ‘€“ a debate that we could have dealt with at home. We still haven’€™t told South Africans the true story of the XVI International AIDS Conference.