Medi-Clinic lays theft charge against newspaper

JOHANNESBURG – Cape Town Medi-Clinic has laid a charge of theft at the Cape Town police station in connection with missing medical records belonging to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

Western Cape police spokesperson Captain Randall Stoffels said yesterday the investigation was ongoing and police were busy compiling statements. He could not comment on whether the Sunday Times was implicated in the theft.The allegedly stolen medical records are at the centre of a scandal that has erupted around the Health Minister’s alleged drinking habits.On August 12, the Sunday Times published a story alleging she indulged in alcoholic binges while at the Cape Town Medi-Clinic two years ago for a shoulder operation.Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya has called the story ‘200 per cent accurate’, while the minister has called it ‘garbage’.On Tuesday, Tshabalala-Msimang said she would go to court to get her medical records back from the Sunday Times as a ‘matter of urgency’.Her spokesperson, Sibani Mngadi, said the minister believed the Sunday Times was illegally in possession of her records.”All of us have read the story.The story has said they are in possession of medical records.We want to believe that they are not lying, at least not on that issue,” he said on Tuesday.”It’s certainly a violation of the National Health Act.”On Tuesday night, Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya said he was ‘not saying anything’ about whether the paper was in possession of the medical records.The paper refused to hand over documents relating to the story by a deadline the minister imposed for Tuesday late afternoon.Makhanya said the onus was on the minister to explain the basis on which she was demanding the documents.The hospital laid the charge on Tuesday.Nampa-SapaHe could not comment on whether the Sunday Times was implicated in the theft.The allegedly stolen medical records are at the centre of a scandal that has erupted around the Health Minister’s alleged drinking habits.On August 12, the Sunday Times published a story alleging she indulged in alcoholic binges while at the Cape Town Medi-Clinic two years ago for a shoulder operation.Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya has called the story ‘200 per cent accurate’, while the minister has called it ‘garbage’.On Tuesday, Tshabalala-Msimang said she would go to court to get her medical records back from the Sunday Times as a ‘matter of urgency’.Her spokesperson, Sibani Mngadi, said the minister believed the Sunday Times was illegally in possession of her records.”All of us have read the story.The story has said they are in possession of medical records.We want to believe that they are not lying, at least not on that issue,” he said on Tuesday.”It’s certainly a violation of the National Health Act.”On Tuesday night, Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya said he was ‘not saying anything’ about whether the paper was in possession of the medical records.The paper refused to hand over documents relating to the story by a deadline the minister imposed for Tuesday late afternoon.Makhanya said the onus was on the minister to explain the basis on which she was demanding the documents.The hospital laid the charge on Tuesday.Nampa-Sapa