Chinese condoms 'too small' for South Africans

A South African court has blocked the government from buying 11 million Chinese condoms, saying they are too small, a newspaper reported Friday.

Judge Sullette Potterill has set aside a decision by South Africa's finance minister to award a contract for the supply of female condoms to a KwaZulu-Natal company that planned to import the condoms from China, Johannesburg's Citizen newspaper reports.

This happened when a rival firm, Sekunjalo Investments Corporation, turned to the High Court in Pretoria after losing the bid, arguing that their condoms were 20 percent larger than the Chinese ones.

The Chinese female condoms, with the brand name "Phoenurse," have not been approved by the World Health Organization, the US Food and Drug Administration Agency or the South African Bureau of Standards, and are 20 per cent smaller than the approved product, the country’s Beeld newspaper reported.

South Africa has more HIV infections than any country in the world, with 5.38 million of its 50 million people carrying the virus.