Manto's neglect
It seems to me as disgusting that our health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the person solely in charge of this AIDS-ridden country's prevention policies, cannot find time in her diary to attend the official AIDS Day event tomorrow.

We're used to Manto shooting her mouth off, disparaging successful global prevention policies and hawking her vegetable wares, but this is just disrespectful. We all know that she has been ill of late, and that will be the only reason for reprieve in this case.

This all off the back of another damning report on Government's AIDS prevention policies. The Actuarial Society of SA (Assa), in collaboration with the Medical Research Council and the Centre for Actuarial Research (CARE) at the University of Cape Town released a report yesterday highlighting that "about 250 000 young South Africans aged between 15 and 24 became infected with HIV this year, suggesting government’s prevention programmes are not hitting the mark".

That's another 250000 young people that will find it incredibly difficult to contribute to the long-term success of our nation. We need solutions Manto, and we need them now. Not pitching up to an official government-sponsored AIDS Day event shows a complete lack of insight.