Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the epidemiological evolution and the current status of the South African AIDS epidemic. It formulates a theory of government denial and conceptualises a typology of official denial that is applied as an analytical tool throughout the discussion to make sense of AIDS denial in South Africa. The book describes the Botha and De Klerk government's responses by focusing on three phases of response: silent phase; flux and reconceptualisation; and democratisation of the official response to AIDS. It also describes the first Mbeki government's nascent flirtation with and gradual defence of AIDS denialism. The book explains how this led to the institutionalisation of the denial of AIDS as policy during the intractable second Mbeki administration. It provides a graphic representation of denial timeline and superimposes it on top of a chronology of the official history of the South African epidemic.