Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has heatedly denied a British newspaper article which quotes her as saying South Africa can't afford anti-Aids drugs because money is needed to buy submarines to deter a possible US attack.

The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Tshabalala-Msimang had said the Health Department could not provide anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to the estimated 4,5 million South Africans with HIV.

"We don't have the money. Where would it come from?" she was quoted as saying.

Asked if it could come from the money earmarked for the submarines that form part of the multibillion-rand arms deal,Tshabalala-Msimang reportedly said South Africa needed to deter aggressors: "Look at what Bush is doing. He could invade."

The minister said her statements had "obviously" been taken out of context.

She claimed she had not been formally interviewed by The Guardian reporter but that they were chatting about the possibility of a future interview.

She said she had never made the remark about a possible US attack and that it had, in fact, been the reporter who had raised the Bush issue.

"I said Bush is coming to South Africa next year when the SA-USA binational commission meets. If he is coming, why would he be thinking of invading us?" she said on Wednesday.

Tshabalala-Msimang admitted that she had said South Africa needed submarines to defend its long coastline.

Asked to comment on her reported statements that South Africa could not afford to provide ARVs to about 4,5 million people, Tshabalala-Msimang said she "never put it this way".

"There is a particular phraseology that we use - that we don't have resources because the medicines are so expensive and we do not have enough infrastructure to monitor them."

She added she had no "ideological opposition to anti-retrovirals. But they are very costly and South Africa does not have adequate facilities to monitor provision of anti-retrovirals in the public sector according to international standards".

ARVs were available in the private sector, and the government did not stop people who accessed these.

Tshabalala-Msimang added that, in the public health sector, "where we are responsible for the lives of the poor", the government did not want to expose them to potentially harmful drugs "that we can't monitor".

Sapa reports that Tshabalala-Msimang's comments as reported in the Guardian has provoked criticism from some opposition parties.

Tshabalala-Msimang was the villain in a tragi-comic Christmas pantomime, the Democratic Alliance said.

"She continues to fiddle while South Africa burns," DA chief whip Douglas Gibson said.

United Democratic Movement spokesperson Pieter van Pletzen said her alleged preference for arms over ARVs confirmed that the government had "sold out" South Africans.

"Clearly, the ANC has declared war on innocent South Africans and, by the minister's own admission, prefers to let people die. The UDM regards her utterances as disgusting."

Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging leader Cassie Aucamp said the minister's comments were "totally irresponsible".

With acknowledgements to Andre Koopman and The Star.