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Genocide charge is no laughing matter

– Christelle Terreblanche, Weekend Argus, 2 March 2003

Pieter-Dirk Uys thought long and hard before sending an email message suggesting that preparations be started for a possible international genocide trial against President Thabo Mbeki and Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

The message to hundreds of acquaintances proclaimed: "The South African people are dying today because of government carelessness and political negligence".

In reaction, the government said in a statement that Uys was being "flippant".

"I am absolutely serious about this," Uys said this week, emphasising that it was a suggestion "to those who can take it further".

"In the last 48 hours I've been contacted by people who can take it very far, very far... not just lawyers, but people focused on amnesties, on all these things that lead to where Milosovic is today."

Uys is not apologetic about his indictment: "Genocide is such a terrible thing, and I am very aware of the sphere it brings us into. If one thinks of Nazis killing Jews, Burundi, Rwanda and Cambodia.

"I hope that people are offended by the use of the term genocide, because I am terribly offended that I even used this word, and yes, I will apologise if I am convinced it was uncalled for."

Uys stressed that he thought long and hard before sending the e-mail, but that it was the result of years of discussions with people on the ground.

He first sent the email to Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang, the accused. An official response from the Government Communications and Information Service has since arrived: "While we are convinced that there are limits to satire, we do recognise Uys's right to overstate matters and respond flippantly to serious issues.

"We would have thought that Pieter-Dirk Uys would realise from his own experiences in Aids prevention, as most South Africans do, that searching for scapegoats and instant solutions is not the correct response to the challenge of HIV/Aids."

Uys said in reaction: "People die unnecessarily, and I am sorry, there is no flippancy here."

Among the dozens of responses, his favourite reads: "Pieter-Dirk Uys, jislaaik, are you mad?"

"Yes. Mad as hell! But not as insane as those who think there are limits to satire!,"Uys said. "For me the definition of genocide is to destroy a part of society willfully." Uys's appeal ironically came days before the 2003/4 budget revealed a full roll-out of anti-retrovirals for rape victims and mother-to-child transmission, as well as provisional money for universal treatment.

But pills are not what Uys's anger is about, although he supports the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). "This has got nothing to do with money," he said angrily. "The reason it is so complex at the moment is because there is no leadership here — no minister of health. We have a puppet talking on behalf of the president, and that is why they both deserve a lot of anger."

Seated at the "Bloedrivier" section of his Darling restaurant, Evita se Perron, Uys used the metaphor of apartheid to explain why it is wrong to stay quiet. "Why is it always after the action, that people say, 'there has been genocide'?", he asked. "Why wait for ten years and look back to 2003 and realise that two of the major leaders of this country, refused to lead?"

He is convinced that like the apartheid years, people are too frightened to do anything. "The people who are denying (the virus) are probably so consumed by fear that they need more care than anybody", he said, adding that he would not be surprised if the government was fearful.

"Because the ANC celebrated democracy in 1990 in Lusaka, without condoms — and it's now 12 years later. Steve Tshwete did not have a backache. Peter Mokaba was not poor, and we keep on getting told that its the poverty, and that is where the genocide comes in."

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