Posted by Editor on March 28, 2002
http://www.anc.
org.za/ancdocs/history/mbeki/
Home page of Thabo Mbeki,
President of South Africa
LEND A CARING HAND OF HOPE - STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE ANC - Issued by the African National Congress: 20 March 2002
"The AIDS epidemic is one of the greatest challenges that our society has ever faced. The difficult and complex questions it raises and the pressure it exerts on families require unity of purpose and action among all of us.
"We are confident that, inspired by this joint commitment to action, South Africans can succeed in managing and ultimately defeating AIDS. Our primary call, therefore, is for all of us to lend a caring hand in building hope.
"There is hope because South Africans have the internal strength to ensure their self-preservation as individuals, as communities and as a nation; because the message of awareness has reached the overwhelming majority of South Africans; because the programmes of treatment and home-based care we have initiated are helping the nation to manage the epidemic.
"Above all, there is hope because, through our comprehensive programme to build a better life for all, we are eradicating the conditions of poverty that are critical in the propagation of HIV and progression of AIDS."