Former deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was fired for her inability to work as part of the ”collective” and for undertaking a trip to Madrid against President Thabo Mbeki’s orders.
This is according to the letter Mbeki sent to Madlala-Routledge on Wednesday firing her.
The Presidency released the letter on Saturday to ”prevent further speculation and misrepresentations of facts”.
In a briefing in Cape Town on Friday, Madlala-Routledge said she was axed for an unannounced hospital visit and an unauthorised trip abroad.
”I’ve been fired for paying an unannounced visit to Frere Hospital on July 13 2007 and for my response to the shocking situation I found in the maternity ward,” the former deputy said.
This visit to Frere Hospital was prompted by the much publicised story broken by the Daily Dispatch newspaper after a two-month under-cover investigation into why babies died at Frere Hospital, she said.
”The other reason for my dismissal is the much publicised trip I undertook to Madrid to address a conference hosted by… the International Aids Vaccine Initiative.
”What is at issue here is that I went to Madrid without permission from the president.”
In his letter to his former deputy health minister, Mbeki said the Constitution called on government officials to work collectively to develop and implement national policies.
”I have, during the period you served as deputy minister of defence, consistently drawn your attention to the concerns raised by your colleagues about your inability to work as part of a collective, as the Constitution enjoins us to,” the president wrote.
He said he had discussed these issues with her, even during her tenure as deputy minister of health.
”You travelled to Madrid despite the fact that I had declined your request to undertake this trip. It is clear to me that you have no intention to abide by the constitutional prescriptions that bind all of us. For this reason I suggested to you that you should resign.”
”It is clear that you do not accept my advice. This leaves me no choice but to relieve you of your duties.”
Madlala-Routledge said during her press briefing that she did not resign because she wanted to know what processes were followed to establish that ”I had broken rules in how I organised my trip to Madrid”.
”But at that stage already, I did not think that doing what I was paid to do was wrong.”
‘I’ll fix you’
Meanwhile, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang never told Madlala-Routledge that she would ”fix” her, the health minister’s department said on Friday.
”We have confirmed with the minister that no such statement was ever made,” the department said in response to an earlier statement by Madlala-Routledge at a media briefing.
Speaking in Cape Town on Friday, Madlala-Routledge said ”I can’t say” when asked whether she had been ”set up” by Tshabalala-Msimang.
”But I will say that when I spoke in the National Council of Provinces two years ago, and this is the time when I was almost sacked, the minister of health had said to me, and had not looked at me, ‘I’ll fix you’, and maybe she has fixed me.”
In a statement, the department said the former health deputy had not chosen to report such an incident, if true, to structures in government and the ruling African National Congress.
Madlala-Routledge was always invited to regular meetings where policy and department-related issues were discussed.
These included regular meetings involving the minister, deputy minister, department director general, senior managers and provincial ministers.
”Madlala-Routledge was often absent, and in many cases without even tendering an apology. On the few occasions that she was present, she would mostly be attending to her cellphone while the discussions were under way,” said the department.
The statement was released following Madlala-Routledge’s press conference to ”correct the wrong information provided to the media with regard to the minister and the Department of Health”.
It said that Madlala-Routledge’s resume, speeches and position remained available on the department’s website and would be updated.
Responding to allegations that Aids programmes would be undermined by the axing, the department and ministry said they remained committed to implementing the National Strategic Plan on HIV/Aids for 2007 to 2011.
‘Source of inspiration’
The sacking of Madlala-Routledge, who served ”as a source of inspiration” in the fight against HIV/Aids, was regrettable, the South African Medical Association (Sama) said on Friday.
”She was a key player in the past two years in the creation of a more united and better environment vis-a-vis HIV and Aids,” said Sama chairperson Dr Kgosi Letlape.
This had culminated in the launch of the National Strategic Plan for HIV/Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections for 2007 to 2011 and the re-launch of the South African National Aids Council.
”We hope that the synergies created by her efforts and the environment of cooperation will not be lost with her departure,” Letlape said.
Independent Democrats leader President Patricia de Lille said Madlala-Routledge had ”broken the silence” and was an ”example to women everywhere”.
The former deputy minister was a ”heroine of our new struggle against HIV/Aids” and had unified civil society, government and the nation behind her.
FF Plus leader Pieter Mulder said: ”It has long been necessary for President Mbeki to intervene in the Department of Health and fire some people. Unfortunately he did intervene only to fire the wrong minister.
Democratic Alliance health spokesperson Mike Waters said Madlala-Routledge ”was fired for speaking truth to power”.
The sudden ”extreme stand” over a misunderstanding on a trip could only mean that Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang had been ”embarrassed” by Madlala-Routledge, who was willing to speak out on government’s failures.
On Friday, a group of Treatment Action Campaign members protested over her dismissal outside the Primedia offices where Madlala-Routledge was addressing the media. — Sapa
Timeline
The beginning, 2004: Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge is appointed deputy minister of health, following her stint as deputy minister of defence.
December 2006: Mbeki’s Aids test. Following an interview with British newspaper the Sunday Telegraph, there were reports that she had called on President Thabo Mbeki to take an Aids test. She wins praise for her call from Cosatu, the TAC and other Aids activists, but in a later statement she says: ”Although I encourage people to test so that they know their HIV status, I did not, as a matter of fact, call upon the president to conduct a public test as claimed by the reports.”
February 2007: Manto Tshabalala-Msimang falls ill and is admitted to hospital for a liver transplant. Mbeki announces that Transport Minister Jeff Radebe will fill her position. Many see this as a slap in the face for Madlala-Routledge.
June 2007: Manto ”snubbed”. After a speedy recovery, Tshabalala-Msimang takes up her post again, but there is immediate controversy. Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said Tshabalala-Msimang withdrew from the third South African Aids Conference because Madlala-Routledge was given a more prominent position at the conference.
July 2007: Mount Frere Hospital. A public row erupts between Tshabalala-Msimang and Madlala-Routledge over conditions at the Mount Frere Hospital in the Eastern Cape. Madlala-Routledge describes conditions at the hospital as a national emergency during a surprise visit following media reports of a dire shortage of equipment and staff, and management’s inaction on infant deaths. A few days later, Tshabalala-Msimang visits the hospital and says her deputy’s comments were based on untruths.
August 5 2007: Unauthorised trip. It is leaked to the media that Madlala-Routledge takes a consultant and her son on a trip to Spain without obtaining presidential approval, at a total cost of R160 000. Madlala-Routledge denies any wrongdoing.
August 7: Fired. Mbeki asks her to resign on Tuesday, but she refuses. She is sacked a day later.