Njongonkulu Ndungane, an Anglican Archbishop, has come out
in support of the first gay elected bishop by the Episcopal church in the
United States, saying the sexual orientation of an ordained person is not
relevant. The archbishop was reacting to the controversy surrounding the
election of Gene Robinson, the openly homosexual bishop of New Hampshire.
Ndungane says the position of the Anglican church in Southern Africa is that
any person ordained as a priest in the church is eligible for election as a
bishop. However, he says that the only condition is that a homosexual person
must lead a celibate life.
In other news, Ndungane said South Africa's Aids pandemic had become a world
disgrace as serious as apartheid. Ndungane was commenting on the Medicines
Control Council's recent threat to withdraw registration of Nevirapine for use
in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
He said: "The fact that 600 people are dying daily is a serious indictment
on our elected government and leaves the impression that it does not care
whether we live or die." He questioned the government's lack of
acknowledgement of the fact that Nevirapine was recommended in dozens of
countries around the world, including South Africa.
He said that when Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the health minister, continued to
question the efficacy of ARV and talked about waiting for the right structures
to be in place, she and those who supported her were equating the Aids virus
with manageable diseases.
Ndungane said he wished that her department could act on HIV/Aids with the same
admirable sense of urgency that had been applied to a meningitis scare in
Gauteng.
"The minister is quite right when she says the Aids pandemic is the
responsibility of every government department and I believe it is time her
fellow ministers accepted responsibility for what has become a world disgrace
as serious as apartheid," he said.