The Health Department has approached President Thabo Mbeki to appoint an acting minister while Manto Tshabalala-Msimang recovers in hospital, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
”We are continuing, although it is difficult for us without leadership. However, there are discussions with the Presidency currently under way to look at the issue of appointing an acting minister, which we hope will be another person who is currently a minister,” said departmental spokesperson Sibani Mngadi.
Tshabalala-Msimang’s condition had ”stabilised significantly”, said her doctor, Professor Jeff Wing, in a statement on Friday.
Wing said Tshabalala-Msimang still required ongoing investigations to clarify the cause of her anaemia and pleural effusion.
The minister was admitted at the Johannesburg Hospital on Tuesday night and had undergone a blood transfusion.
Her hospitalisation follows a three-week spell in the same hospital in October last year for a lung infection, followed by a lengthy recuperation at home.
Cabinet objects
The Cabinet on Thursday objected to ”highly personalised” comments in the media on Tshabalala-Msimang’s well-being. The African National Congress (ANC) parliamentary caucus also lambasted a Democratic Alliance (DA) MP for her ”insensitive” remarks about the minister.
In a media briefing at Parliament on Thursday, government communications head Themba Maseko said Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting had taken exception to some highly personalised comments on the state of Tshabalala-Msimang’s health.
”Cabinet regards media reports about her performance at [a press conference last week] as inaccurate and exaggerated. While we respect everyone’s right to criticise members of the executive, such personalised attacks are not constructive,” he said.
Cabinet also condemned a statement by the DA about her health as ”appalling and extremely distasteful”. — Sapa