ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book generates greater awareness of official denial, as well as the ease with which it can go undetected. It shows that although there is a great deal of uproar about Thabo Mbeki's dabbling in AIDS denialism, instances of official denial has by no means been limited to Mbeki's administrations. The book introduces a measure of perspective that has been greatly lacking in assessments of South African governments' responses to HIV and AIDS. It confirms Tony Barnett's observation that because long-wave events fall outside of the normal time frames for politicians, it is extremely difficult for leaders to recognise and address them. The book highlights the subtleties of denial, and to point out that Mbeki alone could never be the only responsible official or the only one to have denied or disavowed the epidemic.
