Doctor suspended for questioning Mbeki

The German doctor who alerted the M&G to Kimberley hospital’s turnaround on anti-retroviral drugs was suspended for allegedly criticising the government’s HIV/Aids policy. Beatrix Weber was accused in her disciplinary charge sheet of “unlawfully and intentionally undermining the Office of the President by stating … that the president is confused and is misleading the country with regard to the issue of HIV/Aids”. The offending sentences were contained in a report to the German organisation that sent her to South Africa. In fact she wrote: “The government under the leadership of President Thabo Mbeki has managed to confuse and mislead the whole country on this issue.” Weber was also charged with “blemishing the international image of South Africa to international agencies” and with “verbally attacking” her colleagues and hospital management, and “showing disrespect”. Weber is on her way home to Germany after leaving the Kimberley hospital. Her suspension is still being challenged.