Treatment Action Campaign ( TAC), South Africa's leading AIDS pressure group, staged protests nationwide on Thursday to demand for dismissal of the country's health minister who is blamed as incompetent in addressing the crisis.

Thousands of TAC members gathered to protest at Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and other cities and handed memorandum to governmental representatives.

Some protesters outside the offices of the Western Cape provincial government in Cape Town held up "Arrest Manto" signs, a reference to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, reported the SAPA news agency.

The organization was demanding Tshabalala-Msimang and her director-general, Thami Mseleku, to be dismissed immediately " because they failed to address HIV/AIDS issues," said a TAC statement.

The minister has long been criticized by AIDS activists and organizations both at home and abroad for her approach towards treatment of HIV/AIDS, which infected some 5.5 million South Africans, one of the highest infection rates in the world.

But the government argued that it has been launching the world's most comprehensive treatment and care campaign among HIV- affected people.

The unapproved protest was part of what TAC says is a global day of action to pressure the South African government on its response to HIV/AIDS.

"We are tired of government's inactivity in the face of the AIDS pandemic," said TAC's general secretary Sipho Mthathi, who demanded immediate government action to stop what it says are 1, 000 new HIV infections and 800 AIDS deaths a day in South Africa.

The TAC is also calling for anti-retroviral treatment for all prisoners who need it.

However, the health department said on Thursday that the minister would not resign and the department would continue to focus on prevention in its fight against HIV/AIDS.

In a statement on Thursday, health department spokesman Sibani Mngadi said the prevention campaigns had led to a "very high level of awareness" among 92 to 98 percent of South Africans.

Mngadi said more than 175,000 people were receiving antiretroviral treatment.

"This is the highest number of people put into antiretroviral treatment by any government," Mngadi said.

Source: Xinhua