HIV/AIDS key to elections - activist

HIV/AIDS has become a deeply political issue in South Africa, the country's Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said on Wednesday. The government has recently come under fire for failing to implement a national treatment plan, and choosing instead to focus on "nutritious diets" for people living with HIV/AIDS. "The reason South Africa cannot move forward is that President Thabo Mbeki and the health minister [Manto Tshabalala-Msimang] are HIV denialists," TAC director, Zackie Achmat, said in a statement. He warned that the success of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in next year's election depended on an effective HIV/AIDS policy. "I am an ANC member and I can tell you that the ANC will do itself enormous harm if it does not have a treatment plan in place by next year's election," Achmat cautioned.