In a rare if not unprecedented move, the Congress of South African Trades Unions (COSATU) has praised big business for its decision to supply cheap anti-retroviral drugs to employees infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS.
Noting that AIDS is "having a devastating impact" on South Africa, COSATU labels the initiative "a huge step" in the fight against the pandemic.
While business has captured the moral high ground on AIDS, President Thabo Mbeki's government is strangely reluctant to switch direction in its campaign, even after its spectacular legal victory over major pharmaceutical companies last month. The Pharmaceutical Association of South Africa withdrew an application to the High Court to block a bill allowing the importation of cheap generic drugs and their manufacture in South Africa.
While President Mbeki is still talking about the "toxicity" of anti-retroviral drugs and the need for prudence, the South African Chamber of Business and major corporations are working on a plan to establish 170 outlets throughout the country for the provision of cheap drugs. Anglo American, South Africa's largest company, has already had discussions with the main Indian manufacturers of alternative drugs. It has simultaneously sought the co-operation of the National Union of Mineworkers.
Mr Clem Sunter, head of corporate communication at Anglo American, predicts that the plan will be "nailed down in the next three to six months".
A joint statement issued by the government and the pharmaceutical industry talks of extending health benefits to the largest number of people, particularly with respect to "communicable diseases". The choice of that imprecise phrase reflects Mr Mbeki's curious reluctance to wage an all-out war against AIDS.
These developments came in the wake of a sober assessment of the economic impact of AIDS in South Africa in an article in Nedcor's Guide to the Economy. Nedcor is one of South Africa's four major banking corporations.
The author of the article, Nedcor economist Mr Dennis Dykes, notes that AIDS-related deaths already account for over 40 per cent of deaths in South Africa. He claims that will rise to over 70 per cent by the end of the decade. On the use of the anti-retroviral drug Nevrapine to reduce the mother-to-child transmission of HIV, he argues: "Many feel that valuable time has already been lost and that the dangers of no treatment vastly outweigh the dangers or costs of increased access to drugs."
The main economic threat of AIDS to South Africa - which, according to UNAIDS, has more HIV positive people than any other country in the world - is its ability to slow down the inflow of foreign capital. South Africa's low rate of domestic savings makes an annual capital inflow of 5 per cent of GDP over the next few years imperative for sustainable growth.
But Mr Dykes warns that capital inflows will only occur if foreign investors see growth opportunities and new markets. He then observes that AIDS threatens both and reduces the attractiveness of South Africa and the region as a whole as "an investment destination".