Fallen anti-apartheid heroes would be shocked at AIDS toll: Tutu

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Johannesburg - South Africa's deceased anti-apartheid heroes would be shocked by the huge number of lives in the country being claimed by the AIDS pandemic, Anglican Archbishop and Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu said Saturday.

In a speech at Nelson Mandela University in Eastern Cape province Tutu blasted the government of President Thabo Mbeki for delaying the rollout of life-prolonging AIDS drugs, leading to "unnecessary" deaths.

"They (the fallen anti-apartheid activists) would lament the fact that too many died unnecessarily because of bizarre theories held on high," the popular 74-year-old cleric and veteran of the struggle to end apartheid, said.

South Africa has the largest number of HIV-infected people in the world. Around 5.5 million, or one South African in nine, is HIV-positive and around 1,000 people are estimated to die each day of AIDS or AIDS-related illnesses.

The "bizarre theories" Tutu mentioned were an apparent reference to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang's past promotion of vegetable remedies, over anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), to treat the symptoms of AIDS.

Tutu, considered the moral custodian of the nation, did acknowledge that a "more realistic plan was now in place" to fight the spread of AIDS.

Under pressure from anti-AIDS lobbyists, trade unions and the international community, the government finally approved a plan to make ARVs available to AIDS patients in 2003.

At the end of April 2007 some 282,200 AIDS patients were receiving ARVs, according to the health ministry.

Tutu was also critical of the towering levels of violent crime in South Africa, the growing gap between rich and poor and the controversial recent decision by Mbeki to fire an anti-AIDS-crusading deputy health minister for insubordination.

Causes for celebration, on the other hand, were the end of apartheid, steady economic growth, the emergence of a black middle class and Mbeki's leadership role on the African continent.