the new order

[motho]

"Health has been rescued from the madness of lemons, garlic and beetroot, which are now restored to their role as nutritious fruit and vegetables, liberated from being the weapons of ma** destruction that Manto had made them" Ferial Haffajee

Im happy with the new Health Minister, Barbara Hogan

have any of the post-mbeki people impressed u guys, so far

[rob_one]

Funny, I actually wrote about this last week.

You know that feeling where you suddenly realise something blindingly obvious? Where something colossally important has occurred right in front of you and until a moment ago you just hadn’t noticed? It’s a feeling which makes you want to slap your forehead, grimace and at the same time start jumping off the walls because the event that you nearly missed is so, well, important that it takes your breath away.

That was me, a week ago. So focussed had I been on the colossal political upheavals shaking South Africa extremely hard, the end of Mbeki, the emergence of Kgalema Motlanthe and the hand-rubbing glee of Zuma that I completely failed to notice one of the most significant political events of this century. It occurred in Mbeki’s shadow, and I suspect that I’m not the only one to completely forget about it.

Which made finally realising it that much cooler. Ladies and Gentlemen, for those of us who were too dim to notice, I give you the resignation of our health minister. You know her, you love to hate her, and now you can say that in the past tense. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is gone. Ding, dong, the witch is dead.

The minute Mbeki left the Union buildings carrying a cardboard box, Zuma very quietly fired Manto and, in an act that is as astonishing as it is gratifying, replaced her with someone competent. Shortly thereafter, Jesus arrived on earth to say the entire Gospel thing was really a terrible misunderstanding and the 75th Airborne Pig Battalion took off for Mars. It was that kind of day.

We will get onto her replacement in a moment. Right now, we need to conduct – I suppose a post-mortem is in bad taste but it’ll have to do – on the reign of Manto as South Africa’s Minister of Health. It was, as I’m sure I don’t need to emphasise, a reign characterised by minor successes and the kind of screw-ups previously unknown outside a Ben Stiller movie.

The most obvious results of her ministerial term were both a completely blinkered approach to HIV-Aids and a growing malaise and chronic morale problem that suffused the entire medical system of South Africa. Although Manto did have some successes early in her career with the allocation of funds on a regional level, and initially cultivated a fairly respectable international profile, there can be no denying that she went downhill very quickly indeed.

Hell. Where to start? Her statements, actions and beliefs did more damage to the fight against HIV in South Africa than any other cause, human or otherwise. The highlights reel is something that, on planets more enlightened and less filled with stupid people than ours, would be shown on the alien equivalent of America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Remember that time she completely failed to use the R30 million COSATU gave her in 2005 to set up the government’s aids trust? That’s just while the credits are rolling; how about when she was accused by the Treatment Action Campaign of supporting Matthias Rath, a quack-pot doctor who seriously counselled against the use of antiretrovirals? Or her 2000 interview with John Robbie on 702, when she refused to say yes or no to the question of whether HIV caused Aids (technically, her boss already answered that question, but you get the point). My early highlight reel favourite is that time the government had to be forced by a 2002 court order to give out free Aids drugs. That was great.

Of course, there is the all time favourite. The alien Oscar-winning, standing ovation-delivering, train-wreck-sized cock up: the incident where she recommended the use of garlic, beetroot and olive oil as a preventative measure against Aids. This was followed a few years later by that wonderful scene at the International Aids Conference in Toronto in 2006. South Africa’s display booth was, if you remember, a bunch of garlic, lemons and African potatoes. She was roundly criticised by several international scientists, then and subsequently, and turned South Africa’s health policy, in the words of several commentators, into a laughing stock.

It didn’t stop there. She fired her deputy, the eminently capable Noziziwe Madlala-Routledge, for speaking out and saying that her boss was a bit on the loony side when it came to HIV-Aids (Madlala-Routledge has made a decent comeback in the past couple of weeks as deputy speaker of the National a**embly.) Her stay in a hospital in 2005 for a shoulder operation was exposed by a courageous Sunday Times investigation as nothing more than a booze-up, where she sent staff out for whiskey. There were also the allegations (not entirely proven) that she had stolen patient items at a hospital in Botswana and been deported.

Roll credits. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was the absolute distillation of everything that was mean, stupid and blinkered about the ANC government. She put political posturing and power-grabbing ahead of people’s lives, and protecting her own backside ahead of protecting those who needed it most. People are dead because of her. Without Mbeki, she would never have lasted this long. It was inevitable that she would have been fired by Zuma – he’s no friend of Mbeki’s cronies after all – but he is to be commended for doing so.

Her replacement put a huge smile on my face. Barbara Hogan and her deputy Dr Molefi Sefularo, made two things immediately clear: one, that the Aids epidemic had been danced around for far too long and needed instant action and two, that the chronic morale problem in the health system needed dealing with just as fast. I’ve decided I like her. We need some time to see whether she can deliver, but we’re already light years ahead of where we were a month ago.

And the best bit? I’ve saved it for last. It’s so good. It’s like a drink of water after you’ve been wandering in the desert. Manto has a new position, it turns out. Although fired, she’s been offered as a job. It gives her more opportunity to screw up, true, but the bitter irony is just awesome. Her offer was for a position as a Minister to the Presidency.

Guess who that’s going to be.

[motho]

yeah Manto will never live down that Toronto scene.

i hear she now has to give back that liver (jokes)

[Decino]

with Barbara Hogan, as with all things, the proof will be in the pudding.

[Robber Mugabe]

but are yuo people so against Sis' Manto, she tried her and did waht she cuold with what sha had.

[motho]

but are yuo people so against Sis' Manto, she tried her and did waht she cuold with what sha had.

  beetroot and lemons was all she had, isnt that why we have scientists 

[Big Elle]

but are yuo people so against Sis' Manto, she tried her and did waht she cuold with what sha had.

  beetroot and lemons was all she had, isnt that why we have scientists 

  plus she was caught stealing patient's belongings in the hospital she worked at in Botswana back in the day. serial hiv denialist too.

[motho]

but are yuo people so against Sis' Manto, she tried her and did waht she cuold with what sha had.

  beetroot and lemons was all she had, isnt that why we have scientists 

  plus she was caught stealing patient's belongings in the hospital she worked at in Botswana back in the day. serial hiv denialist too.

i still think she should give back that liver now

[Mprofeti the Radical Process]

but are yuo people so against Sis' Manto, she tried her and did waht she cuold with what sha had.

  beetroot and lemons was all she had, isnt that why we have scientists 

  plus she was caught stealing patient's belongings in the hospital she worked at in Botswana back in the day. serial hiv denialist too.

i still think she should give back that liver now

I still bliv that Manto was misquoted by the media. All Manto was saying is that if people could eat healthy, then their immune systems will be strong and their bodies will resist HIV better than people who r not eating healthy.
Now Biologicaly she is right......now the f***ed up media turns around what Manto said and says that Msimang said Betroot can cure Aids..........The same thing the media did to Manto, they did it to Mbeki.....The media says Mbeki does not bliv HIV causes AIDS which is bullshit because all Mbeki said is that poverty is the main cause of the fast spread of Aids......If u look at the AIDS stats closely......mostly the poor people are affected by it.....
People should get their facts straight before bliving anything you hear from the media.....

[rob_one]

but are yuo people so against Sis' Manto, she tried her and did waht she cuold with what sha had.

  beetroot and lemons was all she had, isnt that why we have scientists 

  plus she was caught stealing patient's belongings in the hospital she worked at in Botswana back in the day. serial hiv denialist too.

i still think she should give back that liver now

I still bliv that Manto was misquoted by the media. All Manto was saying is that if people could eat healthy, then their immune systems will be strong and their bodies will resist HIV better than people who r not eating healthy.
Now Biologicaly she is right......now the f***ed up media turns around what Manto said and says that Msimang said Betroot can cure Aids..........The same thing the media did to Manto, they did it to Mbeki.....The media says Mbeki does not bliv HIV causes AIDS which is bullshit because all Mbeki said is that poverty is the main cause of the fast spread of Aids......If u look at the AIDS stats closely......mostly the poor people are affected by it.....
People should get their facts straight before bliving anything you hear from the media.....

Oh f*** off, you nauseating adolescent.

[General Ratzinger van Stilzkin]

Oh f*** off, you nauseating adolescent.

hold on. he may not be completely nauseating. i mean we do know the media is very dodgy at times.

[The Angry Hand of God]

John Robbie asked her on live radio if she believes that HIV causes AIDS. She refused to answer and played the race card.

She has been quoted as saying numerous times that ARV's are toxic and she refused to distribute them in state hospitals, even after a court ruling which told her to. She instead promoted a concoction made by a truck driver, who claims his ancestors told him to make it and sell it for R300 for a week's supply. She also supported Matthias Rath, who claims vitamins can cure AIDS and encouraged people to stop their ARV treatment. Some of these people subsequently died.

I have personally heard her promote garlic and diet as a cure for AIDS, mind you as an alternative to ARVs not a supplement to help boost their immune systems. But then again, I work for the media and they probably f***ed with my ears or something.

[Anna Sasin]

i personally herd her say:cocaine is a beautiful drug
seriousli manto is best out of the health ministry

[General Ratzinger van Stilzkin]

Cool. what do u think about mbeki's statement on poverty and HIV?

[motho]

but are yuo people so against Sis' Manto, she tried her and did waht she cuold with what sha had.

  beetroot and lemons was all she had, isnt that why we have scientists 

  plus she was caught stealing patient's belongings in the hospital she worked at in Botswana back in the day. serial hiv denialist too.

i still think she should give back that liver now

I still bliv that Manto was misquoted by the media. All Manto was saying is that if people could eat healthy, then their immune systems will be strong and their bodies will resist HIV better than people who r not eating healthy.
Now Biologicaly she is right......now the f***ed up media turns around what Manto said and says that Msimang said Betroot can cure Aids..........The same thing the media did to Manto, they did it to Mbeki.....The media says Mbeki does not bliv HIV causes AIDS which is bullshit because all Mbeki said is that poverty is the main cause of the fast spread of Aids......If u look at the AIDS stats closely......mostly the poor people are affected by it.....
People should get their facts straight before bliving anything you hear from the media.....

not the "blame it on the media rhetoric", the media this.. the media that... Did u see that laughable display at the Aids Conference in Toronto in 2006? Do u even care that for a country of people who are dying of AIDS every single day...Manto was the best Health Minister we could produce?

Do u really think that the media is so fickle and self serviving that they would go after her for doing a good job, was she doing a good job??? I mean its a bit paranoid to think that journalists all over the world had it in for her and Mbeki in 2006 or aNY other time they opened their mouths on the issue of HIV/AIDS