Sound familiar?

Anyway, it seems that South Africa is doomed, much like the rest of that continent and ultimately, the rest of the world.

Human stupidity and greed are the true forces of nature.

As bad as it is that many humans are going to experience additional and unnecessary suffering due to situations like this, where a combination of (incorrect) distrust of science as a manifestation of colonialism and the misplaced faith in 'traditional' medicine, such situations are often required to force entire nations into accepting Actual Reality.

Actual Reality was that thing that stepped in in Kano, Nigeria, when tribal elders stopped polio vaccinations out of the fear that this was a covert way to sterilize Nigerian youth as a part of the Big Bad USA's nefarious schemes. Suddenly, amazingly, kids in Kano province were getting polio! Worse yet, it was spreading elsewhere because of the Nigerian lunacy. The tribes relented when it was shown that their actions were provably and directly resulting in negative repercussions.

So I say let Dr. Beetroot work the madness, not that we can stop the Good Dr. without using Shrub's proven negotiating tactic of a speedy blitzkrieg without warning. When the data comes out in a year that infection rates are rising, that the vaunted beetroot treatment results in 0% remission, when people see finally that they have been duped by a faith-based health service, then _maybe_ something positive can come out of this.

And a special fuck-you shout-out to folks who oppose immunization and the HIV-ain't-AIDS crowd. Go sit on the short bus with the flat-earthers and faked-moon-landing kids. I know that's not debate, nothing but raw ad hominem, really, but to debate you would be to lend some form of credence to your beliefs.

How can that be?

Actually the Health Minister was sacked for attending a conference without permission of the President first in clear violation of national policy. You see the ANC is lead by the SACP (South African Communist Party) and the specific violation of the Health Minister was acting quote "Without the Collective" unquote.

It's about party politics not about health. Bbbbbbutt I'm sure all you angry liberals knew that already.

Well, it turns out that Kano is still a hotbed of disease, not just polio but also measles etc. So I declare any hope for change or optimism I once had dead and buried - South Africa's infection rates will rise, the beetroot solution will not work, and nothing will be done to change it except possibly blaming a convenient scapegoat (Jews, the USA, the Jews that run the USA).

And to the anonymous individual, I can't help but notice your heart fluttered when you got a chance to say 'Communist'. I know it's been hard on you guys, ever since the CCCP fell, to use Communism as a proper boogeyman. It might not have been good for you to have said that, since (relatively speaking) South Africa is a success story especially once you compare it to the dire situations in Sierra Leone and more other African states than I can name. So are you saying, anonymous, that Communism can lead to a successful nation-state? I expected better from a far-right troller!

Because in FACT, in reality, organizationally, the SACP really does in fact pull an awful lot of clout in the ANC. They're joined at the hip.

All ANC leaders are SACP leaders. That's simply a statement of fact.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=309921&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national

ANC/SACP are commonly mentioned in the same breath as is COSATU which is the third leg of the ANC/SACP pairing. They're not shy about admitting this. You should read more.

For more on the specific article here:

http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n07_13082007.htm

Mbeki would not publically utter the word 'AIDS' or acknowledge that it even existed for nearly a decade until his own son died of it. It's really kind of amazing what you can get away with on the world's stage if you represent South Africa.

On Yahoo News as we speak

Why jealousy can be healthy

Get his attention with these coy — but harmless — maneuvers.

...and not all AIDS-avoiders are in Africa. There's a small but vocal cult-of-denial right here in the USA, chiefly among the "natural-living" crowd. One of the most frightening articles I've ever read in the "legitimate" American media was in a "natural parenting" magazine about a woman who was determined to basically go against every piece of prevailing wisdom regarding protecting her unborn child from mother-to-infant AIDS, for no better reason than if the Medical Establishment says to do "A," well then it had to be Evil enough for her to decide on "B."

Sorry, folks, but sometimes the "suits" have it right.

This coalition may well come apart, since the ANC has betrayed all of its principles and embraced neoliberalism. If it does, I'd love to see South Africa join the left-populist tendency coming out of Latin America.

SA's new world best friends are Iran, Syrian, Myanmar in that order. Plus they stand squarely against western intervention or condemnation against Sudan.