The name ‘Thabo Mbeki’ has been used to smear Donald Trump. During former president Thabo Mbeki’s presidency, his leadership was tainted by his AIDS denialism which led to the deaths of 330,000 people and 35,000 babies. Mbeki believed a small group of scientists who had conducted research into the virus and found that it did not cause AIDS. This contributed to his lacklustre approach against the disease as he denied access to anti-retroviral treatment to thousands affected by HIV/AIDS. Together with the late Dr Manto Tshabalala Msimang, who was SA’s health minister from 1999 to 2008, the pair championed nutrition as one of the main combatants to HIV/AIDS. Msimang famously touted traditional medicine, garlic, beetroot and lemon as vegetables which would fight the disease. While SA has recovered from Mbeki’s dangerous health policies, President Donald Trump has been likened to him for his handling of the Covid pandemic in the US – Bernice Maune.
Two major US media outlets have recently called up Mbeki’s failed strategy and denialist approach to HIV/AIDS in analysing how Trump has fallen short in effectively dealing with Covid.
New York Times columnist Nikolas Kristoff wrote that Mbeki would be remembered as having executed one of ‘the most lethal leadership failures in modern times’ as AIDS spread rampantly during his tenure.
“Mbeki scorned science, embraced conspiracy theories, dithered as the disease spread and rejected lifesaving treatments. His denialism cost about 330,000 lives, a Harvard study found.
“None of us who wrote scathingly about that debacle ever dreamed that something similar might unfold in the United States. But today, health experts regularly cite President Trump as an American Mbeki,” wrote Kristoff.
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Citing expert analysis from Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at U.C.L.A who said “Mbeki surrounded himself with sycophants and cost his country hundreds of thousands of lives by ignoring science, and we’re suffering the same fate.”
In a news segment on CNN, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 slammed Trump’s advisor, Dr Scott Atlas, for misleading him. About 230,000 Americans have died from coronavirus with the country recording 99,000 cases in one day last week.
Mbeki was referenced as a textbook case of dismissal leadership, for having surrounded himself with political allies who did not dare challenge him on his wrong policies.
“People like President Trump pick the people who agree with their politics. It’s like Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, picking an HIV/AIDS denialist. This type of thinking is not only dangerous it’s murderous,” said Fauci.
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🙆🏾♂️🙆🏾♂️🙆🏾♂️ as I’m watching CNN a contributor references, in conjunction to the pandemic, Thabo Mbeki’s handling of HIV in South Africa. This is embarrassing, his dark dark cloud still hangs over us @Newzroom405 @News24 pic.twitter.com/bMVu15h0O9
— CertifiedLoverBoy 🤍 (@DonAfrikha) November 1, 2020
Fauci has been at loggerheads with Trump over implementing nationwide lockdowns, hospital conditions, advice on treatment and how to reduce infections through global standards.
According to a report, Trump has threatened to fire Fauci while sidelining him and blocking communication with the White House’s specialists on infectious diseases.
