(Cape Town, South Africa) AIDS activists Friday were celebrating the removal of South Africa’s health minister, who promoted nutritional supplements instead of conventional medicine for people with HIV.

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang became the target of international criticism for espousing the use of beetroot, garlic, lemon and the African potato in the fight against AIDS, earning her the nickname “Dr. Beetroot.”

“Raw garlic and a skin of the lemon – not only do they give you a beautiful face and skin, but they also protect you from disease,” she told a news conference in 2005. “All I am bombarded about is anti-retrovirals, anti-retrovirals. There are other things we can be assisted in doing to respond to HIV/AIDS in this country.”

The Academy of Science disagreed.

“One of our most important findings has been that nutrition is important for general health, but is not sufficient to contain either the HIV/AIDS or the tuberculosis epidemic,” said panel member Dr. Dan Ncayiyana, editor of the South African Medical Journal. “We need a well-nourished nation. But a well-fed population on its own is not going to resist HIV/AIDS without anti-retroviral drugs.”

Tshabalala-Msimang was accused of contributing to an untold number of  deaths because of her controversial approach to treating the disease.

Kgalema Motlanthe, who was elected president this week, moved Tshabalala-Msimang to a less important cabinet position and named an anti-apartheid veteran to take her place.

The Treatment Action Campaign immediately threw a party outside parliament and the opposition hailed the news Friday.

South Africa is home to about 5.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS. In November 2003 the government committed to providing 53,000 patients with free antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS by March 2004. Even by March 2005, only about half that number were receiving treatment.

Last year, as international criticism of Tshabalala-Msimang intensified, the government slowly began to increase that number.