August 31, 2007
'YOU'RE FIRED!' IN SOUTH AFRICA HAS WORLD AGHAST
deputy minister of health
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Protesters support Madlala-Routledge on Wednesday Credit:Faizel Slamang |
More than 1,500 South African AIDS activists gathered Wednesday at a Cape Town cathedral to protest President Thabo Mbeki's unjust firing of Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, the now former Deputy Minister of Health and to demand that the government still implement National Strategic Plan (2007-2011). There is deep concern that the loss of a sane voice in the South African government on AIDS policy will undue the steps forward in recent months .
Legendary Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) leader Zackie Achmat, marched the group to Parliament to hand over a letter demanding Madlala-Routledge's reinstatement. The letter was denied.
"This is a deep, deep tragedy for the country, for democracy and above all for HIV-AIDS," Achmat said of Madlala-Routledge's dismissal.
The South African government claims Madlala-Routledge was fired because she didn't receive express permission to attend an AIDS conference in Spain, and she is now being asked to reimburse the government an estimated $70,000 U.S. dollars for the conference and other petty costs.But the idea that Madlala-Routledge was forced out because she over spent her travel stipend doesn't make sense, since it is not uncommon for high level ministers to go to conferences without getting an okay. It is widely presumed that Madlala-Routledge was canned because she stood up to Mbeki and his AIDS denialist health minister Manto Tshablala-Msimang in laying out real steps to address the AIDS crisis. (For a full description of what unfolded check out TAC's website).
When Health minister Tshablala-Msimang got sick nine months ago, Madlala-Routledge took the opportunity to side-step the health minister's authority and build true coalitions with AIDS advocates, who helped write the National Strategic Plan (2007-2011), which ambitiously aims to cut HIV infections in half by 2011. An estimated 5.4 million South Africans are infected with AIDS, the highest number in the world. But now that Madlala-Routledge has been fired the future of the plan—and South Africa's position on AIDS— is in serious doubt.
"The Health department is full of incompetent people. I have very little faith in them to implement the National Strategic Plan," said Gregg Gonsalves at the AIDS and Rights Law Project of Southern Africa in Cape Town. "This is about more than just Nozizwe's firing. It's about the whole idea that you can't speak up about public health. It's supposed to be a democracy, not Soviet Russia."
What you can do
So Madlala-Routledge is not put into debt paying back the South African government, TAC has arranged a fund that concerned people can donate to. For Americans who want to donate, e-mail Judie Blair at freesa@igc.org.
While there is little chance Mbeki will restore Madlala-Routledge to her past position, it is still essential for AIDS advocates in South Africa and around the world to let the South African government hear from us.
Because Mbeki is known for caring more about his status overseas than what his own citizens care, for those outside South Africa, there's a lot you can do to help. You could write a letter to Mbeki, but "he'll probably throw it out," Gonsalves said. The best way to get the President's attention is to write a letter to the editor of South African newspapers such as the Mail & Guardian or the Sunday Times.