The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) has raised some controversial questions regarding the government's refusal to provide anti-retroviral medication to prevent the transfer of HIV/Aids from mothers to their babies.

Provincial party leader Neels Roelofse has described the government's attitude as "one of the political mysteries of the new millennium".

He said in Pietersburg that the increase in abortions and Aids deaths would seriously affect the country's economy in the next two or three decades.

"We must remember that for each 35 children there is one teacher. For every 105 000 children aborted or dying of Aids in one year, there will be 3 000 teachers less. If we take that into classrooms over a period of ten years, South Africa will probably need to build just about no new schools by the year 2020", Roelofse explained.

He claims these facts give rise to an inevitable question. Is the Aids policy a way of wiping out the backlog in schools and other infrastructure such as housing, clinics, and hospitals?

The government has not yet responded to this probing line of questioning. Roelofse says he intends to pursue the matter during the coming session of the Northern Province Legislature.