ANC knew of Minister Manto’s theft charge

Johannesburg – The ANC said on Wednesday it knew about health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s dismissal on theft charges from a Botswana hospital in 1976, SABC radio news reported.

Meanwhile, the Johannesburg High Court yesterday ordered Tshabalala-Msimang’s medical records be returned to the Cape Town Medi-Clinic and all medical records on journalists’ laptops and computers must be deleted. Judge Mahomed Jajbhay said personal notes of Sunday Times journalists ‘are not affected by the court (order)’.The Sunday Times reported two weeks ago that Tshabalala-Msimang was convicted of theft when she was a superintendent at the Athlone hospital in Botswana in the 1970s.Calls by opposition parties and civil society groups for the minister to resign as unfit for public office, have since swept through the country.”The President [Thabo Mbeki] actually knew about it because the ANC knew about it,” ANC head of the presidency Smuts Ngonyama told SABC.”As far as we are concerned, the issue of the case is irrelevant at the present moment.We talk of a case I think which took place 32 years ago.”Ngonyama said the constitutional guidelines were clear in this case.”Any person who was given a sentence which was above 12 months, that person was not liable to be appointed as a member of parliament – which is not the case [with Tshabalala-Msimang]”.Ngonyama also confirmed to the SABC that a meeting between ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and sacked deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge had not yet taken place.This follows the ANC working committee’s request that Madlala-Routledge be questioned on events following her dismissal.Mbeki has called for the committee to investigate whether disciplinary action should be taken against Madlala-Routledge after she criticised his leadership style.Ngonyama said that while the meeting had not yet taken place, Madlala-Routledge had confirmed being in touch with the secretary-general.Judge Jajbhay also said there was no order against future comments being made by the Sunday Times, as that would amount to censorship.The Sunday Times was further ordered to pay costs in the court case.The judge did not read out his 40-page judgement, saying it would be available to interested parties afterwards.Health department spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said after the proceeding that the minister was away in Brazzaville, Congo, but had been informed of the order.Tshabalala-Msimang was “delighted”, he said.Nampa-SapaJudge Mahomed Jajbhay said personal notes of Sunday Times journalists ‘are not affected by the court (order)’.The Sunday Times reported two weeks ago that Tshabalala-Msimang was convicted of theft when she was a superintendent at the Athlone hospital in Botswana in the 1970s.Calls by opposition parties and civil society groups for the minister to resign as unfit for public office, have since swept through the country.”The President [Thabo Mbeki] actually knew about it because the ANC knew about it,” ANC head of the presidency Smuts Ngonyama told SABC.”As far as we are concerned, the issue of the case is irrelevant at the present moment.We talk of a case I think which took place 32 years ago.”Ngonyama said the constitutional guidelines were clear in this case.”Any person who was given a sentence which was above 12 months, that person was not liable to be appointed as a member of parliament – which is not the case [with Tshabalala-Msimang]”.Ngonyama also confirmed to the SABC that a meeting between ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and sacked deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge had not yet taken place.This follows the ANC working committee’s request that Madlala-Routledge be questioned on events following her dismissal.Mbeki has called for the committee to investigate whether disciplinary action should be taken against Madlala-Routledge after she criticised his leadership style.Ngonyama said that while the meeting had not yet taken place, Madlala-Routledge had confirmed being in touch with the secretary-general.Judge Jajbhay also said there was no order against future comments being made by the Sunday Times, as that would amount to censorship.The Sunday Times was further ordered to pay costs in the court case.The judge did not read out his 40-page judgement, saying it would be available to interested parties afterwards.Health department spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said after the proceeding that the minister was away in Brazzaville, Congo, but had been informed of the order.Tshabalala-Msimang was “delighted”, he said.Nampa-Sapa