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Govt AIDS gag unconstitutional - watchdog

    JOHANNESBURG

    An order by South African health director-general Thami Mseleku that provincial health officials not comment to the media on HIV/AIDS was unconstitutional, the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM), a watchdog organisation, said on Tuesday.

    PSAM researcher Stacey-Leigh Joseph said, "In terms of section 32(1) of the constitution, 'Everyone has the right of access to any information held by the state'."

    Mseleku reportedly ordered provincial senior health officials not to speak to the media about HIV/AIDS, or about an upcoming visit to the country by UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis.

    According to the local Sunday Times newspaper, Mseleku ordered the media gag after Lewis's "particularly scathing and derogatory" remarks about the South African government's response to the pandemic during the recent international AIDS conference in Toronto.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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