Mbeki's AIDS torch shines on in cyberspace

AIDS dissidents have not taken the hint that President Thabo Mbeki is trying to distance himself from their cause, if that is indeed the case.

A petition displayed on an AIDS dissident website calls on people to sign up to "support President Thabo Mbeki's intention to investigate the definition, causation, treatment and prevention of AIDS".

While it has been reported that Mbeki has distanced himself from the AIDS dissidents from whom he has taken controversial advice over the past few years, the president's name and photograph appear on the petition broadcast on the Virusmyth website.

Virusmyth, described as a Rethinking Aids website, boasts the petition has apparently gathered 6 026 signatures, with the latest signatories coming forward over the past few months.

The website is edited by Robert Laarhoven, a political activist and representative of the Dutch Foundation for Alternative AIDS Research, who was contacted on Thursday to ask whether he had sought permission from Mbeki to use his name and photograph on the petition.

His reply came swiftly by email. "Do I need permission? I do not think so. So the answer is no.

"This is a petition to support Mbeki, a public figure. It is a grass-roots initiative, not a financed public relations stunt or so. Strange question by the way. Are you going to throw more dirt at him?"

Joel Netshitenzhe, chief government spokesperson, said on Thursday he had been unaware of the petition displayed on the website.

"We will look at it and weigh it against the general principle of the usage of the president's name and photograph as regulated by legislation," he said.

A Sunday newspaper reported earlier this year that the presidency had instructed the health ministry to write to the AIDS dissidents telling them to stop using Mbeki's name when signing their correspondence.

Several dissident members of Mbeki's International AIDS Advisory Panel, among them Americans David Rasnick and Peter Duesburg, had taken to using this designation when writing documents and signing letters to newspapers.

The views of some of the AIDS dissidents are reflected on the Virusmyth website.

It is believed that while the government does not want to upset the AIDS dissidents on the president's advisory panel for fear of a public backlash, it is reviewing the work of the panel.