"I DIDN'T CRITICISE MBEKI," SAYS MANDELA.

Former president Nelson Mandela has rejected reports that he has attacked President Thabo Mbeki's stance on HIV/Aids. Speaking at the opening of the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island in Cape Town on Saturday, Mandela accused sections of the media of trying to drive a wedge between him and Mbeki. He said journalists had misinterpreted remarks he made at a World Aids Day function on the Cape Flats earlier in the day, and he had been shocked by a subsequent phone call from Mbeki's office about the reports. "I said countries that have succeeded in bringing down the levels of Aids are those where the president of the country takes the lead," he said -- to a burst of applause from the hundreds of VIPs at the ceremony. He said he had quoted the case of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade who had "gone out in their countries and concentrated on mobilising the communities to understand how to fight Aids." The president of Uganda and his first lady were seen "walking around the country picking up people with Aids and giving them love and support." "After praising Museveni and President Wade I said our president and deputy president are doing ...