Former Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was fired for her aledged inability to work as part of the "collective" and for undertaking a trip to Madrid against President Thabo Mbeki's orders.
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This is according to the letter Mbeki sent to Madlala-Routledge last Wednesday.
The Presidency released the letter on Saturday to "prevent further speculation and misrepresentations of facts".
In a briefing in Cape Town on Friday, Madlala-Routledge said she was axed for an unannounced hospital visit and an unauthorised trip abroad.
"I've been fired for paying an unannounced visit to Frere Hospital on the 13th of July 2007 and for my response to the shocking situation I found in the maternity ward," the former deputy said.
This visit to Frere Hospital was prompted by the much publicised story broken by the Daily Dispatch newspaper after a two-month under-cover investigation into why babies died at Frere Hospital, she said.
Important Aids conference
"The other reason for my dismissal is the much publicised trip I undertook to Madrid to address a conference hosted by... the International Aids Vaccine Initiative.
"What is at issue here is that I went to Madrid without permission from the president."
In his letter to his former Deputy Health Minister, Mbeki wrote the Constitution called on government officials to work collectively to develop and implement national policies.
"I have, during the period you served as Deputy Minister of Defence, consistently drawn your attention to the concerns raised by your colleagues about your inability to work as part of a collective, as the Constitution enjoins us to," the President wrote.
He said he had discussed these issues with her even during her tenure as Deputy Minister of Health.
Request declined
"You travelled to Madrid despite the fact that I had declined your request to undertake this trip. It is clear to me that you have no intention to abide by the constitutional prescriptions that bind all of us. For this reason I suggested to you that you should resign."
"It is clear that you do not accept my advice. This leaves me no choice but to relieve you of your duties."
Madlala-Routledge said during her press briefing that she did not resign because she wanted to know what processes were followed to establish that "I had broken rules in how I organised my trip to Madrid".
She also said that she had only been informed that permission for the trip was denied, once she was already in Madrid.
"But at that stage already, I did not think that doing what I was paid to do was wrong," she said.
Calls for reinstatement
Meanwhile, students at the University of Cape Town will on Wednesday call for the immediate reinstatement of Mrs Madlala-Routledge as Deputy Minister of Health.
Speakers at the rally will include Zwelinzima Vavi (COSATU Secretary General), Zackie Achmat (Treatment Action Campaign) and Dr Lydia Cairncross (South African Medical Association).
In May 2007, more than 400 students of the University of Cape Town
representing a large cross-section of student leadership applauded the
then Deputy Minister of Health, Mrs Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge's
courageous leadership in the development of a National Strategic Plan
for STI's/HIV and TB and in the role she played in healing rifts between
government and civil society, said a statement released by the TAC.
They went on to say that the recent firing of Mrs Madlala-Routledge by President Thabo Mbeki has resurrected the leadership crisis around HIV/Aids in South Africa, and has threatened to negate all this country’s recent victories in the fight against the disease.
“Every day 900 South Africans are killed by HIV, and thousands are newly infected. In circumstances like this, which are further compounded by the crisis that our public health service is in, the unfair dismissal of Mrs Madlala-Routledge cannot be ignored,” the statement said. – (Sapa/Health24)
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