/ 20 August 2007

Manto camp: Report is ‘false, speculative’

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s office on Sunday described a media report that she was an alcoholic and convicted thief as ”false, speculative and bizarre allegations”.

”As it did last week, the Sunday Times has yet again made false, speculative and bizarre allegations designed to demean the minister, the government of which she is part and the people who voted for that government,” said Sibani Mngadi in a brief statement.

The ministry will issue a more detailed response on Monday, he said.

President Thabo Mbeki responded to the article, which claimed that Tshabalala-Msimang was ”a drunk and a thief”, by reiterating a statement he issued on August 13, his office said.

”Anyone who may have evidence which demonstrates that any minister or deputy minister has acted in dereliction of duty is welcome to forward such evidence to the Presidency,” the statement read.

The Sunday Times alleged that chronic alcoholism was the real reason the minister had a liver transplant.

The newspaper further claimed that the health minister had been convicted of stealing a watch from a patient who was under anaesthetic while superintendent of a hospital in Botswana in 1976.

She was then expelled from the country and declared a prohibited immigrant, according to the report.

An article in last week’s edition of the Sunday Times details the minister’s alleged drinking habits during a Cape Town hospital stay two years ago.

In a statement issued last week, the Presidency said: ”Allegations published in the weekend press do not warrant the president to take action against the minister of health.”

Earlier this week, the Sunday Times admitted to being in possession of the confidential medical records of the minister, leading to a Johannesburg High Court order compelling the newspaper to return all but one copy to the hospital.

On Sunday afternoon, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille called for Tshabalala-Msimang to go.

”In any properly functioning democracy … Dr Tshabalala-Msimang would have been removed from her position a long time ago.

”That she has not been says more about our president than about the health minister,” said Zille.

Independent Democrats leader Patricia De Lille called for an end to ”this acrimonious fight that started with the president’s firing of deputy minister of health [Nozizwe] Madlala-Routledge”.

”It is very sad that the president failed to show strong leadership by trying to bring the two ministers together, but rather took sides with Tshabalala-Msimang,” said De Lille.

If he does not remove Tshabalala-Msimang from power, foreign investment in South Africa would suffer, she said. — Sapa