Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has withdrawn from the third South African Aids Conference after apparently being sidelined by the conference’s organisers, it emerged on Tuesday.
Speaking at the official opening, South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: ”The minister has withdrawn because of the place you have allocated to her.”
Mlambo-Ngcuka said organisers had placed the Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge ”in an embarrassing position” of being given a position of more prominence at the conference.
The deputy president deviated from her written speech to the media in which she said: ”I am very disturbed that the Minister of Health was allocated to speak only in a panel. The minister is our champion of health policy and the custodian of its implementation. And you allocate a speaking slot to her deputy.”
She said: ”This type of politics is very unhelpful and doesn’t contribute to the environment we are building to fight the battle together.”
Mlambo-Ngcuka praised Transport Minister Jeff Radebe for standing in for Tshabalala-Msimang while she recovered from a kidney transplant operation. – Sapa