A dismal Women’s Day for us all
South African Deputy Minister of Health Nozizwe Madlala Routledge was dismissed from her post on the eve of National Women’s Day. At an HIV/AIDS and the Media Project forum held in March this year, Madlala-Routledge engaged in conversation with journalists and editors about media coverage of HIV/AIDS. She said, “In the health budget vote debate last year I called for a national consensus on health issues because I believe, that in the face of the pandemic, health should be above party political differences as well as above individual personalities.”
Last month Madlala-Routledge placed the right to life of babies at Mount Frere Hospital in the Eastern Cape above her concern for her own position. She did what few other political leaders have dared to do, she declared conditions at Mount Frere Hospital a national emergency, and in the process risked losing her job.
And now the Deputy Minister of Health, who refused to toe the party line and remain silent in the face of so many unnecessary deaths, has been dismissed.
The message the government is sending out to women in South Africa is clear:
“Don’t tell us how you are struggling to feed your children.
Don’t tell us about how you have been raped and beaten.
Don’t tell us about how your babies are dying.
A good woman knows that she must hold her tongue or be punished.”
Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge is an example to us all. We need to take courage from her brave, dissenting voice and resist the attempt to silence her with our own brave words and deeds. Madlala-Routledge has been dismissed. This too is a national emergency. - Kylie Thomas