"Ninety miles an hour..."
Health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang had alcoholic liver disease caused by years of excessive drinking when she had a transplant this year. Today the Sunday Times exposes a cover-up around the transplant by medical staff to hide her true condition — alcoholic liver cirrhosis — a disease synonymous with chronic alcoholism.
The minister, despite getting the gift of life donated to her by a teenage suicide victim, is still drinking — damaging her new liver.
And, in another explosive revelation, the paper can reveal that Tshabalala-Msimang was convicted of theft when she was a medical superintendent at the Athlone Hospital in Botswana in the mid 1970s. Hospital staff became suspicious as for months watches, jewellery, hats, handbags and even shoes were being stolen from patients.
She was found guilty in the Lobatse Magistrate’s Court of stealing a patient’s watch, hospital blankets, linen, and heaters, and was declared a "prohibited immigrant".
Sunday Times | Manto: A Drunk and A Thief
"The Presidency would like to reassure all South Africans of the integrity of the public health system as led by Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and the Cabinet collective."
Thabo Mbeki | Who are our heroes and heroines?
We might hope the President, rather than indulge his propensity to sling mud at former Deputy Minister of Health Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, will now renounce his Mugabe-style fantasies and blind "loyalty" to all thugs and criminals littering the Cabinet, the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC), Houses of Parliament and... umm... most places where fat cheques, fast lifestyles, and criminal practices are the norm. We might further hope that the President will get off his fucking backside and do something positive, thereby restoring some lustre to the reputation of a country fast becoming a global joke. Fire the bitch, you asshole. It won't change much, but it'd be a start.
President Thabo Mbeki will require evidence before considering media reports that Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was an alcoholic and had been convicted of theft, his office said on Sunday.
Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said the president responded to an article in the Sunday Times that reported Tshabalala-Msimang being "a drunk and a thief" by reiterating a statement he issued on August 13.
"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.
Mail & Guardian | Mbeki: No evidence, no action on Manto
You're kidding, right?
