Peddling snake oil - 18 Aug 2008

There is out there, making enormous amounts of money, a truck driver, called Zeblon Gwala, who claims to have a cure for HIV and AIDS. The 'cure' came to him in a dream, is called Ubhejane and is selling well to desparate people, clutching at straws.

Anso Tom, writing eloquently in today's Cape Times, accuses our Minister of Health of being soft on 'natural remedies', while cracking the whip at every opportunity over any perceived failure in conventional medicine. She is absolutely correct. Some years ago I called publicly for Mathias Rath to be deported from South Africa for his dubious practices in Khayelitsha and Guguletu. It took court action from the TAC to stop this man.

And it is not just AIDS 'cures' that are being allowed to flourish by officialdom. At the risk of being very politically incorrect, the whole idea of registration and official recognition of traditional healers, to the extent that they can provide sick notes that have some legal standing, is quite astonishing. Yes, traditional healers have a place - but unfortunately many of their remedies are far from harmless and many of the people who use traditional healers need conventional medicine if they are to be correctly managed.

Our own Minister of Health scuttled off to a private, conventional hospital when she needed serious treatment. Why should she deny others the same?