CAPE TOWN, Oct 13 (Reuters) - South Africa's Health Minister said on Monday Thabo Mbeki's government wasted time in fighting HIV/AIDS and vowed to step up efforts after years of controversy when her predecessor advocated beetroot and garlic as treatment. South Africa, which has one of the world's heaviest HIV caseloads, has been accused by activists of dragging its feet in dealing with the disease which kills an estimated 1,000 people every day.

Barbara Hogan in September replaced Manto Tshabalala-Msimang when President Kgalema Motlanthe took over from Mbeki as head of state and formed a new cabinet. The comments on Monday were her most critical yet of the Mbeki government's stance on HIV.

"... It was imperative to get ahead of the curve of this epidemic ten years ago. We all, for various reasons, have lost ground," Hogan told the opening ceremony of an AIDS Vaccine conference in Cape Town.

"We also wasted time despite having one of the best plans to cope with the epidemic," she said, adding South Africa must now show more urgency in implementing a national programme launched last year to fight HIV/AIDS.

Mbeki drew sharp criticism shortly after coming to power in 1999 when he questioned accepted AIDS science and failed to make life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) widely available. Tshabalala-Msimang has been lampooned by leading scientisis and activists for recommending garlic and beetroot as treatments.

Some 900 scientists and policy-makers are in Cape Town to debate developments in the hunt for an AIDS vaccine.

Almost 25 years after HIV was identified as the cause of AIDS, killing an estimated 23 million people in the interim, scientists working on discovering an effective vaccine are at a crossroads after two major vaccine prototypes were discontinued late last year due to safety concerns.

This was a major blow in the global drive to combat AIDS, with some 33 million people currently living with the disease according to the United Nations, despite better education campaigns and newer ARV drugs.

"At the end of the day we're not going to get a vaccine just with money... This requires long-term political support," Dr Alan Bernstein, the executive director of conference hosts, the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, told reporters. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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