Blood donated by South African President Thabo Mbeki was destroyed because he did not complete a mandatory questionnaire and his race placed him in a high-risk category, a newspaper reported yesterday.

A row erupted last week between the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) and the government following revelations the SANBS was incinerating blood donated by blacks because of a perceived high HIV prevalence rate among this group.

On Friday, the SANBS agreed to stop using racial profiling of donors.

The Sunday Independent said in 2001 the president donated blood after the SANBS made an urgent call for donors. Mbeki?s medical adviser had asked for a special dispensation that would allow him not to complete the mandatory questionnaire.

?We have a very strict protocol to follow?, SANBS director of technical services Ravi Reddy told the paper. ?We had to take a decision whether to abort bleeding the president, which would have been a disaster from a publicity point of view, or whether to draw blood and then dispose of it?, he said.

But the newspaper said even if Mbeki had completed the questionnaire his blood would have been destroyed because he was black, a race which the SANBS deemed to be high risk category.

Presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said Mbeki did not want to be involved in a public discussion on the matter.