President Thabo Mbeki — usually seen as an astute strategist — has unleashed a storm of controversy with his sacking of deputy minister of health Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge.
The decision has polarised the country, with some saying the president had every right to remove her from her position — ostensibly for an unauthorised trip to Spain. Others have decried his decision as removing an effective administrator, especially with regards to her outspoken — and correct — views on how best to stem the HIV/Aids pandemic.
So, to follow Mbeki’s reasoning, that should have been the end of the matter. The pesky deputy minister had been silenced, and the government could get on with whatever business it had to hand.
Madlala-Routledge then told a press conference last week that she believed Mbeki did not have all the facts at his disposal when he took the decision to dismiss her. In addition to the flight to Madrid, “I’ve been fired for paying an unannounced visit to Frere Hospital on the 13th of July 2007 and for my response to the shocking situation I found in the maternity ward.”
Madlala-Routledge is known to have had a stormy relationship her former boss, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
Tshabalala-Msimang now faces allegations — first published by the Sunday Times — that she went on a “hospital booze binge” while in hospital for shoulder surgery two years ago.
The allegations, the Presidency shot back, had the effect of shifting focus from the government programme to improve the public health system as a whole.
Now Manto is demanding that the Sunday Times return her medical records, or face legal action. The paper is standing by its story.
To be sure, Mbeki has managed recently to steer clear of controversy surrounding HIV/Aids, and his health minister has also been silent on nutritional advice, but the latest fracas has blown up into an ugly spat that can only distract the government from its important work.
The air is thick with mud. Everyone knows politics is a dirty business, but it often seems as if our leaders spend too much time refuting claims and engaging in petty battles than getting on with the governing. Or, for that matter, saving lives.
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South Africans began their farewell bid to Os du Randt on Wednesday night as the great man played his last home Test before heading off to the Rugby World Cup. The powerful prop is respected the world over and his cult-like status will live on in this country for a long time. Kudos, too, to the resilient Percy Montgomery. |
 Luvuyo Mosana
The CEO of the East London Hospital Complex this week fired Frere Hospital superintendent Nokuzola Ntshona, who wrote to the president to agree with the sacked deputy health minister’s evaluation of terrible conditions at the hospital. Is this, as the Freedom of Expression Institute asked, a witch-hunt in the provincial health department? |
Most-read stories
August 9 to 15
1. SA blames UK for Zimbabwe crisis
South Africa has blamed Britain for the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe by accusing the United Kingdom of leading a campaign to “strangle” the beleaguered African state’s economy and saying it has a “death wish” against a negotiated settlement that might leave Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in power.
2. Madlala-Routledge was set up
At 3.30pm on Tuesday, President Thabo Mbeki did what he has been trying to for a long time. He began the process of firing deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge.
3. Nozizwe: Mbeki didn’t have ‘all the facts’
Sacked deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge has confirmed she was dismissed by President Thabo Mbeki for her unannounced visit to East London’s Frere Hospital and her unauthorised trip to Madrid.
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5. Analysts: Mbeki bares fangs in firing Nozizwe
In sacking his deputy health minister, a vocal critic of the government’s Aids policies, South African President Thabo Mbeki has finally bared his authoritarian fangs, analysts said.
6. Firing furore: ‘Politics works like that’
President Thabo Mbeki does not have to give reasons for why he dismissed deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, the Presidency said on Thursday.
7. Madlala-Routledge’s dismissal slammed
President Thabo Mbeki’s decision to let Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge go was a “dreadful error of judgement”, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said on Thursday.
8. Manto: I never told Nozizwe ‘I’ll fix you’
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang never told her axed deputy Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge that she would “fix” her, her department said on Friday.
9. Manto seeks advice over ‘booze’ article
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is consulting her lawyers over a Sunday Times article alleging she demanded alcohol while she was being treated at the Cape Town Medi-Clinic in 2005.
10. Report: Mugabe nears deal with opposition
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is nearing a deal with the opposition to end a political crisis in his country after South Africa tried to broker an agreement, a document obtained by Reuters on Wednesday indicated.