Unjustifiable Firing ...

Apologies .... this is old news really (my excuse - I've been away in Namibia - which was quite the news/internet black hole) ... but the ripples from the very shameful sacking of our deputy minister for health Nozizwe Madlala Routledge continue to reverberate strongly throughout South Africa ...

About a year ago - I was at a debate at the University of Cape Town - when Ms Madlala-Routledge was finally able to step out of the shadows and gagging orders placed on her for years by Mad Mantu (our Health Minister .. aka Dr Beetroot/Garlic/Anything but ARVs) .... she spoke on a platform with Zackie Achmat (of TAC) openly criticising the misguided stance and policy of denialism of the SA National government on the issue of HIV ... it was the first time any government minister had broken ranks with President Mbeki on this subject .... the entire audience gave her a rapturous reception acknowledging the momentous speech she had bravely given .... Zackie openly praised her saying that individuals like Nozizwe were the reason that he (against all criticism) remained a member of the ANC ... warning that further attempts to stifle her would seriously destabilise south african democracy ....

In the months that followed - she took advantage of the fact that Mad Mantu was having a liver transplant (scandal! for alcohol-induced liver failure).... and she became the main driving force behind the first sensible South African 5-year plan to roll out antiretroviral therapy across the country .... all of us in the HIV-NGO community rejoiced .... finally the country seemed to be coming to its senses ....

Sadly ... perhaps even typically ... in response to her passion and courage ... Mbeki chose to fire Nozizwe a couple of weeks ago (on Women's Day no less) ... allegedly for attending a conference in Madrid without permission (even though just a year ago the Deputy President flew to Dubai on a junket using a presidential jet ... for which she wasn't even reprimanded) .... but there's no doubt she's been binned for not toeing the party line and going head to head with Mbeki/Mantu (whose shadowy husband is perhaps one of the most powerful men in SA - and allegedly rules the country from behind the scenes) and the rest of the ANC inner circle cabal ....

There are many injustices about the firing of Madlala-Routledge .... however the most concerning is that in a country where over 1000 people die every day from HIV/AIDS - President Mbeki has yet again put a question mark over his government's commitment to fighting HIV and the AIDS treatment plan that Madlala-Routledge championed ... thus potentially denying the right to life for a large proportion of our population ....

The following petition was put together by Zackie and the TAC ...

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/support-for-nozizwe-madlala-routledge