Nairobi - A senior UN envoy on Wednesday slammed former South African deputy president Jacob Zuma for setting back the fight against HIV and Aids on the African continent with recent "unacceptable" behaviour.
Zuma has done irreparable damage to efforts to curb the spread of the deadly disease with actions that came to light in his recent rape trial, said Stephen Lewis, UN chief Kofi Annan's special envoy for Aids in Africa.
"I feel embarrassed for the African leadership and if you will forgive me that has been the situation in South Africa where the voice of political leadership has been both confused and confusing," he said here.
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"The voice of Zuma just made it even more unpalatable," he said at a news conference on the sidelines of a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union which is being held in the Kenyan capital this week.
A South African court acquitted Zuma on rape charges on Monday, agreeing with the defense that sex between the ex-deputy president and the HIV-positive complainant had been consensual.
On Tuesday, Zuma unconditionally apologized to South Africans for engaging in unprotected sex with the woman, who he implied had solicited the encounter, and pledged to continue to fight against AIDS.
But Lewis was unimpressed and said no amount of apologizing from Zuma could heal the damage done by his "unacceptable male behaviour" and "appallingly uniniformed" testimony during the trial.
"I don't think anything can compensate for the damage that he has done," he said, noting that between 5.5 and 6.5 million South Africans are currently infected with HIV, the virus that can cause AIDS.
South Africa has long been a country of concern for anti-AIDS campaigners who have complained about comments from President Thabo Mbeki that the disease is caused by poverty and Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang who has advocated a quirky diet of garlic, beetroot and olive oil as an antidote.
Of the 39.4 million people in the world living with Aids or the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), nearly two-thirds - 25,4 million - live in sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region in the world. - Sapa-AFP
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