Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
South African Press Association - September 14, 2007
In a speech at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Durban campus on Thursday night, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said Msimang, dubbed "Dr Beetroot" for her controversial advocacy of certain foods as frontline treatments for HIV/Aids, sabotaged her work in the department.
"The minister did make it very difficult for me to perform in those areas and, in particular, I mention the fact that the department was stopped, was not allowed to interact with me directly," Madlala-Routledge said in Durban.
Madlala-Routledge was praised by activists for embracing a conventional approach to fighting the HIV/Aids pandemic. She was fired by President Thabo Mbeki last month for insubordination after failing to seek permission for a foreign trip.
The dismissal sparked a public outcry and was widely regarded as a move to bolster Tshabalala-Msimang, an Mbeki ally who has come under pressure from political opponents since returning to her job after liver transplant surgery in March.
About 1 000 South Africans die each day from HIV/Aids and another 1 500 become infected with HIV.
Madlala-Routledge is a rising star in the South African Communist Party, which is in a coalition with Mbeki's African National Congress (ANC) but has become disenchanted with what it sees as the pro-business direction of his government.
Madlala-Routledge said at the Harold Wolpe Memorial lecture meeting: "It's for the country to assess whether I did fail in the areas that I was delegated."
She said she had been tasked to take responsibility for chronic illness, health technology, mental health, the transfer of mortuaries from the police to the health department and oral health.
"I've written a report for the ANC to say what I did indeed do in those areas, that I was delegated.
She said that she had been receiving numerous messages of support from across the country, from all races.
"People are saying that I did try to perform."
The former deputy minister conceded that the department had not "done very well" on the issue of transferring mortuaries from the police to the department.
Referring the ANC's succession race, she said: "I think all of us are very anxious what about what the outcome will be of Polokwane."
She said that whoever was elected leader at the congress was likely to be the country's next president.
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