South Africa: President Fires Deputy Health Minister

9 August 2007
allAfrica.com
By Verna Rainers

Cape Town — South African President Thabo Mbeki has fired his deputy health minister amidst controversy over a foreign trip and reported disagreements with the health minister over HIV/Aids policies.

In a late-night news release issued by the presidency, Mbeki said he was relieving Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge of her duties with immediate effect. He thanked her for her "participation in government over the years" and said that a new Deputy Minister of Health will be appointed "in due course".

The decision comes after media reports that Madlala-Routledge went on an unauthorised trip to Madrid, with her son and a consultant, costing R160,000.

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.

After a recent newspaper expose on an Eastern Cape hospital, Madlala-Routledge visited the hospital and declared conditions a "national emergency". Mbeki, however, backed the defence of conditions offered by his health minister. Plans are now underway to upgrade the hospital.

Madlala-Routledge, who has been praised by civil society for her stance on the HIV/Aids pandemic, was recently elected to the central committee of the South African Communist Party (SACP). The SACP is in a tripartite alliance with the ANC and the Congress of South African Trade Unions. Reports of infighting in the alliance have proliferated ahead of the scheduled election of the ANC's president in December.

Mbeki's decision was attacked today by South Africa's official opposition in Parliament. Mike Waters, health spokesperson for the Democratic Alliance, said the dismissal was "a disastrous blow for the war on Aids".

Tagged:
Copyright © 2007 allAfrica.com. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.