To clear the HIV denialism which rocked his tenure, former President of South Africa,

In his statement he said that what he meant was that the HIV virus cannot cause a syndrome.

"What I said is that 'a virus cannot cause a syndrome'," Mbeki said.

He added that AIDs is a syndrome caused by a collection of well-known diseases, but not caused by one virus.

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"Aids is an acronym for 'Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome' – therefore Aids is a syndrome, i.e. a collection of well-known diseases, with well-known causes. They are not, together, caused and cannot be caused by one virus! I said that HIV might be a contributory cause of immune deficiency – the ID in Aids.”

According to , in 2006 the leading cause of death was Tuberculosis while HIV was the 9 leading cause of death

"I am convinced that it would be perfectly understandable that the normal, thinking African would ask the questions: Why did it come about that so much noise was made internationally about the 9th leading cause of death in our country, with not even so much as a whimper about the 1st leading cause of death, tuberculosis?"

"Did this have to do with the fact that South Africa could be a lucrative market for the sale of ARVs, as it now is?"

During Mbeki’s tenure, he was accused of several policies that denied thousands of HIV-positive South Africans access to antiretrovirals (ARVs).