Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, former South African health minister has died due to a liver problem which was apparently related to her liver transplant in 2007.
Dr. Mantombazana ‘Manto’ Edmie Tshabalala-Msimang (9 October 1940 – 16 December 2009) born in Durban is a South African politician. She was Deputy Minister of Justice from 1996 to 1999 and controversially served as Minister of Health from 1999 to 2008 under President Thabo Mbeki. After Mbeki resigned in September 2008, his successor, Kgalema Motlanthe, moved Tshabalala-Msimang to the post of Minister in the Presidency. She was not included in the first Cabinet of President Jacob Zuma, announced on 10 May 2009.
There was a lot of contreversy around Manto and her drinking problem, but it’s still a sad day!
On 12 August 2007, four days after the controversial dismissal of her deputy minister, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, the Sunday Times ran an article titled “Manto’s hospital booze binge” about a previous hospital stay in 2005 for a shoulder operation. The article alleged that she sent hospital workers out to fetch wine, whisky and food items, in one case at 1:30 am. Tshabalala-Msimang threatened legal action against the newspaper on the grounds that they were in possession of her medical records. The paper defended its statements, stating that “a retraction was not under consideration”. The article also reported speculation among “many top medical experts at state and private institutions, who refused to be named as they feared retribution from the health ministry” that her liver condition was alcohol-induced, cirrhosis.
According to a Sunday Times article titled “Manto: A Drunk and a Thief” published on August 19, 2007, the minister is a convicted thief who had stolen patient items at a hospital in Botswana, and had been deported from Botswana and declared a prohibited immigrant
Love to her family, loved ones and friends.
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