Abstract
South Africa is in the midst of a catastrophic HIV/AIDS epidemic with over 12% of the national population infected with HIV. Although representing less than 1% of the world’s population, nearly 10% of people living with HIV/AIDS reside in South Africa. Probably the most perplexing aspect of South Africa’s battle with AIDS is former President Thabo Mbeki’s rejection of AIDS science in favour of the ‘questioning’ stance of a small group of ‘AIDS denialists’. The story of denialism in South Africa and its political influence is well documented (Cameron, 2005; Gevisser, 2007; Gumede, 2005; Heywood, 2004; Nattrass, 2007) but nevertheless remains an enigma: why did President Thabo Mbeki go down this path? Why did he and his Health Minister reject all expert scientific opinion on AIDS pathogenesis and treatment – even in the face of rising social anger, loss of political standing both domestically and abroad, and at the cost of thousands of unnecessary deaths? How the government not oppose Mbeki and remain silent for so long?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Bialy, H. (2004). Oncogenes, Aneuploidy: A scientific life and times of Peter H Duesberg, The Institute of Biotechnology, National University of Mexico.
Bond, P. (2006). ‘The Decommodification Strategy in South Africa’, in State of Nature, Winter 2006. Available on: http://www.stateofnature.org/decommodification.html
Butler, A. (2005). South Africa’s AIDS Policy: 1994–2004: How can it be explained? African Affairs, 104, 591–614.
Cameron, E. (2005). A witness to AIDS. Cape Town: David Philip.
Cherry, M. (2000). South Africa turns to research in the hope of settling AIDS Policy. Nature, 405, 105–106.
Chigwedere, P., Seage, G., Gruskin, S., Lee, T., and Essex, M. (2008). Estimating the lost benefits of antiretroviral drug use in South Africa. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 49, 410–415.
Cohen, J. (1994). The Duesberg Phenomenon. Science, 266, 1642–1649.
Duesberg P., and Rasnick D. (1998). The AIDS Dilemma: Drug Diseases blamed on a Passenger Virus. Genetica, 104, 85–132.
Farber, C. (2000). AIDS and South Africa: A Contrary Conference in Pretoria. New York Press, Available on: http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/data/cfmbeki.htm
Fassin, D, and Schneider, H. (2003). The politics of AIDS in South Africa: beyond the controversies. British Medical Journal, 326, 495–497.
Feinstein, A. (2007). After the Party: A personal and political journey inside the ANC. Cape Town, South Africa: Jonathan Ball.
Fourie, P. (2006). The political management of HIV and AIDS in South Africa: One burden too many? New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Galea, P., and Chermann, J. (1998). HIV as the cause of Aids and associated diseases. Genetica, 104, 133–142.
Geffen, N. (2005). Echoes of Lysenko: State-Sponsored Pseudo-Science in South Africa. Social Dynamics, 31, 182–210.
Gevisser, M. (2007). Thabo Mbeki: A dream deferred. Cape Town: Jonathan Ball.
Gumede, W. (2005). Thabo Mbeki and the battle for the soul of the ANC. Cape Town: Zebra Press.
Heywood, M. (2004). The price of denial. Development Update, 5, 93–122.
Kalichman, S. (2009). Denying AIDS: Pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, and human tragedy. New York: Springer.
Kapp, C. (2008). South African court bans vitamin trials for HIV/AIDS. Lancet, 372, 15.
Lodge, T. (2002). Politics in South Africa: From Mandela to Mbeki. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Mbali, M. (2004). AIDS discourse and the South African State: Government denialism and post-apartheid AIDS policy making. Transformation, 54, 104–122.
Mbeki, T., and Mokaba, P. (2002). Castro Hlongwane, Caravans, Cats, Geese, Foot and Mouth Statistics: HIV/AIDS and the Struggle for the Humanisation of the African. Circulated to ANC branches: 1–132. Available on: http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/data/ancdoc.htm. Note: This document was produced anonymously. However, it was circulated in the ANC by Peter Mokaba, and the document’s electronic signature links it to Mbeki – and hence Mbeki is widely believed to be the primary author.
Mullis, K. (1998). Dancing naked in the mind field. New York: Vintage Books.
Nattrass, N. (2004). The moral economy of AIDS in South Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nattrass, N. (2007). Mortal combat: AIDS denialism and the struggle for Antiretrovirals in South Africa. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
Nattrass, N. (2008a). AIDS and the scientific governance of medicine in post-apartheid South Africa. African Affairs, 107/427, 157–176.
Nattrass, N. (2008b). Are country reputations for good and bad AIDS leadership deserved? An exploratory quantitative analysis. Journal of Public Health, 30 (4), 398–406.
Nattrass, N. (2008c). The (political) economics of Antiretroviral treatment in developing countries, Trends in Microbiology, 16(12), 574–578.
Ndebele, N. (2004). The dilemmas of leadership: HIV/AIDS and the state consolidation in South Africa. In M. Chabani (Ed.), On becoming a democracy: transition and transformation, Pretoria: UNISA Press.
Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel Report (PAAPR). (2001). Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel Report: A Synthesis report of the deliberations by the panel of experts invited by the President of the Republic of South Africa, the Honourable Thabo Mbeki. This report is available on: http://www.info.gov.za/otherdocs/2001/aidspanelpdf.pdf
Schoofs, M. 2000. How African Science has Demonstrated that HIV causes AIDS, Village Voice, 5–11 July. It is available on: http://www.villagevoice.com/2000-07-04/news/proof-positive/1
Shapiro, D. (1965). Neurotic Styles. New York: Basic Books.
Sheckels, T. (2004). The rhetoric of Thabo Mbeki on HIV/Aids: strategic scapegoating? Harvard Journal of Communication, 15, 69–82.
Smith, T., and Novella. S. (2006). Denial of Evolution Theory and HIV Causation: Common Strategies, Common Personnel and Common Ground. Draft paper, available on http://www.aidtruth.org
Sparks, A. (2003). Beyond the miracle: Inside the new South Africa. London: Profile Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nattrass, N., Kalichman, S.C. (2009). The Politics and Psychology of AIDS Denialism. In: Rohleder, P., Swartz, L., Kalichman, S., Simbayi, L. (eds) HIV/AIDS in South Africa 25 Years On. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0306-8_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0306-8_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0305-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0306-8
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)