HEADLINES:
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R/£ Health minister is clearly a minister in poor health
February 16, 2007 Edition 1
Angela Quintal
I take no pleasure in seeing Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang ill. Outshone by colleagues who were brimming with good health at a cabinet cluster briefing in Cape Town yesterday, Tshabalala-Msimang became an object of pity and embarrassment.
This was not Dr Beetroot, or the Mad Hatter - to be ridiculed and sniggered at. This was a woman who was disorientated and who spoke with difficulty.
The briefing was bound to be a headache for government officials, who had always dreaded Tshabalala-Msimang's antics at press conferences, especially when asked questions about HIV and Aids nutrition, beetroot and the African potato.
Then there was her combative perfor-mance in Toronto in 2006, which also prompted her colleagues to insist on a change in communication strategy. But yesterday was different. It appeared things had got worse. Reading from a statement, she lost her place and, on one occasion, had to be assisted by Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.
Questions had to be repeated, while others were totally misunderstood. As the chairman of the cluster, for example, an erratic Tshabalala-Msimang directed a question about Bok van Blerk's song De La Rey to her director-general, instead of Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan.
Laughter quickly smothered embarrassment.
When asked a question about extreme drug re- sistant TB that her officials had anticipated, she rambled on at length from a prepared reply that did not directly answer the question asked.
And then there was the question of whether she would follow in the footsteps of her deputy and some health MECs, and take a public HIV test.
Tshabalala-Msimang, who completed her medical studies in the Soviet Union, decided to throw in a Russian phrase, as unintelligible to most of us in the audience as some of her replies.
Jig
Later, after the ordeal was over, she was spotted giving a brief jig, as if to say, "I'm fit and healthy", before leaving the venue.
Was it government policy on everyone's lips after yesterday's briefing? Nothing of the sort. "What is wrong with Manto?" was the phrase on many lips.
Tshabalala-Msimang has always been the subject of gossip in the corridors of power and she has her more vocal detractors who have called for her head because they disagree with her position on HIV/ Aids. There has been speculation about the reasons for her incoherence and, if these are correct, she is not alone in the executive.
I don't know whether any of it is true. What I do know is that President Thabo Mbeki is not the type to get rid of cabinet ministers who are ill, even if they are on their death beds.
I once sat next to transport minister Dullah Omar on a National Assembly front bench. I watched him collapse before me and thought he was dead. He was helped out of the chamber, a frail old man. Public works minister Stella Sigcau, too, was often more at hospital than at work, but the president remained loyal to his colleagues, ensuring they con- tinued to receive a salary for life. Both died in office.
Tshabalala-Msimang's health continues to be a source of speculation.Last week, the Sunday Times reported how she had to be assisted by two cabinet ministers at the state-of-the-nation address, and also reported that she had rambled on unintelligibly at a cabinet lekgotla, with Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya finally stepping in to complete her presentation. Although this was denied by her office this week, the denials no longer ring true.
The minister herself told reporters yesterday that she was in good health.
But we all saw it for ourselves - the media, the diplomats, public servants and her cabinet colleagues - all of us witnesses to something bizarre.
Tshabalala-Msimang is clearly a minister in poor health. Given the president's loyalty and reluctance to dismiss those who are ill, perhaps those close to Tshabalala-Msimang should advise her to step down, with whatever dignity she has left.
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