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IFP slams Manto for 'political subterfuge'
July 21 2002. Reprinted courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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The Inkatha Freedom Party on Sunday slammed Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, accusing her of engaging in political subterfuge and delays while people suffered and died.
"The latest spat over how donor funding should reach people who are crying out for support and treatment, demonstrates clearly how our current political system hurts the country," IFP spokesperson Ruth Rabinowitz said.
"The government's obsession with uniformity (so-called equality) drags everyone down to the lowest common denominator. It stems from Constitutional provisions that require co-operative governance, that limit rights for the sake of equality and that allow government to regulate all activities to achieve equality," she said in a statement.
"Resulting legislation and policy inhibit all useful initiatives in the provinces. With greater autonomy provinces could respond to the pressing needs of their residents and uplift the entire population in a progressive way, still leaving room for government to selectively distribute services across all provinces."
Rabinowitz said the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's R720-million donation had been offered to KwaZulu-Natal to fight HIV/AIDS and a far larger amount of R933-million to central government to equalise services.
"It is shameful that affordable acts of goodwill towards people with AIDS must be forced from government by legal challenges. If so, another challenge will be needed to release the millions of rand offered for sick peoplesi salvation."
She said the most immediate solution would be for the Global Fund for AIDS to change its requirement to work through national governments and to work directly with non-governmental organisations.
"Only in this way will politics be neutralised and relief for the most vulnerable section of the population reach those for who it is intended," the statement read.
Rabinowitz added that the bureaucratic bungle over the AIDS grant also cried out for constitutional and legislative amendments to decentralise control and increase provincial autonomy.
Tshabalala-Msimang on Saturday accused the fund of bypassing the national government when donating R600-million to KwaZulu-Natal.
She said the process of money allocation was done incorrectly, and according to the original agreement with the fund, the money should have been given to the national government.
"The Global Fund was trying to bypass the democratically elected government and put it (the money) in the hands of civil authorities," she said at a three-day SA National AIDS Council youth sector summit in Benoni on the East Rand.
"Perhaps this is because the fund does not trust governments elected by the people."
Tshabalala-Msimang said that when the Global Fund was formed, the developed countries who were providing most of the funding wanted to control where the money went. However, she said South Africa, together with other developing countries fought, hard to make control of the funds 50-50.
Tshabalala-Msimang said the developing countries also fought hard to ensure that money would be distributed to where it was most needed. - Sapa |
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