FORMER South African health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, whose AIDS policies drew international opprobrium, died yesterday after battling liver disease, SAPA news agency reported.

South Africa’s new health minister today broke dramatically from a decade of discredited government policies on Aids, declaring that the disease was unquestionably caused by HIV and must be treated with conventional medicine.

South Africa came under withering attacks at the closing of the week-long global Aids conference yesterday, with some of the world’s leading Aids experts accusing the government of ignoring the epidemic and promoting “lunatic” prevention methods.

Stressing the benefits of olive oil, garlic and beetroot, South Africa’s health minister today said good nutrition was just as important as anti-retroviral medicines for people infected with the Aids virus and that her government would not be pressured into meeting UN treatment targets.

A number of drugs companies have dropped their court case to block cheap Aids drug imports to South Africa.