Rumours that President Thabo Mbeki has asked Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge to resign could not be confirmed by the Presidency on Wednesday.
Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga told the Mail & Guardian on Wednesday that it was a ”rumour with no substance” and that he had heard about it from the media.
In any event, such decisions by Mbeki would be communicated in a statement, he said.
Radio station 702 Eyewitness News said earlier on Wednesday it ”can reveal” Madlala-Routledge has been asked to resign.
Madlala-Routledge is believed to have been summoned to a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria late on Tuesday afternoon, 702 said.
‘Mistake’
Business Day newspaper reported on Monday that Madlala-Routledge’s trip to Madrid in Spain without the president’s approval was a ”mistake” and partly due to ”miscommunication”.
According to a source in the health ministry — who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity — Madlala-Routledge and her party were already in Spain when her office informed her of Mbeki’s decision to disallow the trip.
Madlala-Routledge, took a ”consultant” in her office along with her son on the trip at a cost of R160 000 to the taxpayer.
Ministers and deputy ministers need the president’s approval to travel abroad.
The three flew business class, stayed at a luxury hotel and were allocated generous spending money, the City Press reported on Sunday.
An anonymous whistleblower had written to Mbeki to draw his attention to the unauthorised Madrid trip.
There is evidence of other expenses incurred by the department due to the consultant, Sukhthi Naidoo, taking regular trips around the country, flying business class, hiring luxury cars and sleeping in hotels at taxpayers’ expense.
The letter, in the possession of City Press, is accompanied by detailed evidence of expenses incurred during the trip.
Ratshitanga confirmed that the presidency had received the letter.
Madlala-Routledge said she had been invited by the International Aids Vaccine Initiative to address their seminar on Aids vaccines scheduled for June 12 to 15.
She told the acting health minister at the time, Lulu Xingwana, she would take her son, Simon, an NGO activist, and Naidoo on the trip. Total costs for the trip, including spending money amounted to R161 000.
But Xingwana, in a written reply, advised Madlala-Routledge to ask the president for permission to go on the trip.
According to the Business Day‘s source there was no intention of defying Mbeki.
The source said that a ”mistake” could have been made as the Presidency had been informed that Madlala-Routledge would leave only on Tuesday to attend the conference the next day, when in fact she had left on Monday. – Sapa