South African Deputy Health Minister fired

Should we laugh or should we cry? South African President Thabo Mbeki fired his deputy health minister (Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge). Madlala-Routledge is best known for being the outspoken and fiercely independent deputy to South Africa’s health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. She has reportedly taken a stronger line on the HIV/Aids pandemic than her minister. Mbeki dismissed her following reports that she had gone to Spain to attend an AIDS conference without his permission. She travelled to Madrid with her son and a consultant at a cost of R160 000 to the taxpayer without seeking Mbeki’s approval. Madlala-Routledge’s aides told a newspaper that there had been a mix up in dates and she had already arrived in Spain by the time she received word from the president she should not go. AIDS activists have been highly critical of her boss, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who promoted garlic and lemons as a remedy for AIDS and mistrusted antiretroviral medicines. Mbeki attracted flak some years ago for questioning the link between HIV and AIDS. Tshabalala-Msimang was ill for nine months. Alcohol ADDICTION caused her liver failure. www.sundaytimes.co.za When Tshabalala-Msimang returned to work in June after a liver transplant, her first public gesture was to snub South Africa’s national AIDS conference on the grounds that her deputy had been given a more prominent speaking role than her. After a recent newspaper expose on an Eastern Cape hospital, Madlala-Routledge …
Video Rating: 5 / 5