Manto stands by her man
2005-06-27 15:40
Cape Town - Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang held a private one-on-one meeting with controversial vitamin entrepreneur Mathias Rath earlier this year, it emerged on Monday.
In a written reply to a question in the national assembly by Dianne Kohler-Barnard of the Democratic Alliance, she also refused to distance herself from Rath's claims about his vitamins curing Aids.
Asked whether she or any officials of her department had held any meetings with the Rath Health Foundation, Tshabalala-Msimang replied: "I had a meeting with Dr Rath alone... (on) April 16, 2005.
"We discussed his concern for people infected with HIV and suffering from the impact of Aids."
She was also asked whether she would publicly distance herself from the foundation's assertion, contained in various advertisements printed in South African newspapers, that Aids could be cured by vitamin supplements and that antiretrovirals were deadly poison.
"I will only distance myself from Dr Rath if it can be demonstrated that the vitamin supplements that he is prescribing are poisonous for people infected with HIV," Tshabalala-Msimang replied.
- SAPA