Cosatu and others criticise Mbeki

Since the news of her firing on Wednesday night went public, many voices, including the ANC Women’s League in the Northern Cape, Cosatu, the SACP, the Treatment Action Campaign, Independent Democrat leader Patricia de Lillie, the DA and private individuals have come out supporting her, querying the motives for her dismissal. The ANC Women’s League in the Northern Cape also criticised Mbeki for firing her on the eve of Women’s Day.

After Madlala-Routledge refused a request from Mbeki for her to resign, Mbeki announced her firing on Wednesday night through a statement.

This followed a leak from the presidency in the City Press that she had traveled to Spain in defiance of Mbeki, who had denied her permission to travel to a conference on HIV vaccines in Spain.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi concluded that Madlala-Routledge was fired for her outspoken views on the HIV/Aids issue.

‘In the absence of any other convincing explanation, we then conclude that she was fired because of her views on HIV/Aids, which were not shared by the president and Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. It is very sad because this means the sheep mentality of following the leader will persist. It will deepen the culture of sycophancy among government ministers and officials.

‘But all we can do is pay tribute to her. Thanks to her, government now has a five-year comprehensive HIV/Aids plan. Thanks to her there is unity between government and civil society and it is also thanks to her that we no longer have the mixed messages, and the spirit of Aids denialism is behind us,” said Vavi.

The TAC is also convinced that the trip to Spain was refused in order to discredit her and that it was part of an orchestrated campaign to fire her.

The TAC’s Mark Heywood said: ‘We think Mbeki does not tolerate it when cabinet ministers speak out publicly about government inefficiency.”

Heywood said: ‘Maybe the problem was putting two people who are on diametrically opposite sides to one another in one ministry, because one reflects very badly on the other.

‘And for political reasons, the president has decided which minister to sack.”

But, a director in the health department said the deputy minister deserved to be fired.

‘This has been a classic case of a breach of protocol from someone who consistently had no respect for government protocol.

‘There is nothing sinister about the decision of the presidency because these circumstances are similar to the circumstances that led to Winnie Mandela being dismissed from Cabinet.”

The source also denied that Madlala-Routledge embarked on the Spain trip as a result of a misunderstanding. ‘She sent a letter requesting to leave on June 12, but she left on June 11.

‘By the time the application was disapproved, she was already in Spain. So this miscommunication story doing the rounds in the media is nonsense.”

The South African Communist Party criticised the official stance that Mbeki did not have to justify his firing of Madlala-Routledge, saying it ignored deliberations from the recent ANC policy conference, which agreed on a review of ‘presidential prerogative”.