SOUTH AFICA:South African president Thabo Mbeki shrugged off opposition calls to fire his health minister yesterday after a newspaper reported that she is an alcoholic, secured a liver transplant without giving up drink, and continues to drink.
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, dubbed "Dr Beetroot" by opponents for advocating garlic and beetroot to fight Aids, had a liver transplant in March as a result of a long-running battle with hepatitis, her doctor said at the time.
But the Sunday Times said the minister had alcoholic liver cirrhosis from years of excessive drinking when she had her transplant, and used her position to secure a new liver while hiding her alcoholism from the public.
As part of a five-month investigation into the health minister's conduct that has prompted calls for her dismissal, the newspaper quoted witnesses who said Dr Tshabalala-Msimang continued to drink since recovering from the operation. The paper also said she was convicted of stealing a watch from a patient while superintendent of a Botswana hospital in 1976.
A health ministry statement said the allegations were "false, speculative and bizarre".
Mr Mbeki's spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, told SAFM radio yesterday that anyone with evidence that Dr Tshabalala-Msimang had failed in her duties should report it to the presidency and reiterated that the president would not sack a minister based on a press report. Asked if the president had faith in Dr Tshabalala-Msimang's ability to do the job, Mr Ratshitanga said: "Yes."
The Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, said the Sunday Times report showed Dr Tshabalala-Msimang was a "political, moral and legal liability" and Mr Mbeki must sack her at once.
"In any properly functioning democracy . . . Dr Tshabalala-Msimang would have been removed from her position long ago," Ms Zille said in a statement.
"That she has not says more about our president than about the health minister."
Mr Mbeki earlier this month sacked his respected deputy health minister for insubordination, infuriating activists who applauded her frank and pragmatic approach to dealing with HIV, which has infected about one in nine South Africans.
Activists and the opposition say Mr Mbeki, who himself questioned the link between HIV and Aids several years ago, sacked the wrong minister. "This sends a message to the outside world that this is one Aids sceptic protecting another," said Aubrey Matshiqi of South Africa's Centre for Policy Studies.
He said the choice not to sack Dr Tshabalala-Msimang could be politically motivated, with Mr Mbeki seeking to protect an ally ahead of a December vote for a new leader of his African National Congress party.