Health minister who advocated beetroot to treat HIV dies

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

Her doctor, Jeff Wing, said the 69-year-old former minister had died shortly before 1pm yesterday at Wits University medical centre in Johannesburg. She died as a result of complications arising from a liver transplant, the agency said.

Tshabalala-Msimang served as health minister in president Thabo Mbeki’s government from 1999-2008, when South Africa became known as the world’s worst-affected country in the worldwide fight against AIDS.