Media responses to the sacking
Since the dismissal of Deputy Minister of Health Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge HIV and AIDS has featured prominently in the media. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the political crisis precipitated by her dismissal has been the focus of recent media coverage. Even Ronald Suresh Roberts has had his say.
The Mail & Guardian (August 10 – 16 2007, p6) contained a page length feature incorporating a time-line and three articles; Adriaan Basson and Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya’s “Others have done far worse”, “Nozizwe was set up”, and Rapule Tabane and Zukile Majova’s “Cosatu and others criticize Mbeki”.
The headline of the Weekender read “Fired deputy was a failure at her job, says minister” (Saturday – Sunday August 11 th – 12 th 2007 ). In the article that follows Tamar Kahn reports on the press conference held in Cape Town on the 10 th of August at which Madlala-Routledge informed the press of the circumstances surrounding her dismissal (p2). Kahn’s article “Minister hits back at noisy ex-deputy” also relates how Minister of Health Manto Tshabala-Msimang has responded. On the same page Linda Ensor writes about Madlala Routledge’s reportedly unauthorized trip to Spain in “Who went where, when, and with whose permission”.
In another piece in the same edition of the Weekender Tamar Kahn expresses the opinion that Madlala Routledge was “Author of her own downfall” and “might have been better off working quietly behind the scenes”(p8).
The same edition identifies Patricia de Lille’s statement that, “The president has finally found the courage to fire someone, but he has fired the wrong person…” as the “Thought for the Week”.
The editorial argues that “Sacking deputy health minister was a bad move” on the part of President Thabo Mbeki who has only “further alienated himself from South Africans” (p6)
The New York Times has also responded. See also the series of articles by Caxton Professor of Journalism, Anton Harber, on this site. - Alastair Douglas and Kylie Thomas