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'Dr Do Much' puts her foot in it - again
Lynne Altenroxel. The Star, July 22 2002. Reprinted courtesy of Independent newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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Embattled Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has put her foot in it - again.
Still reeling after calls for her dismissal over the AIDS Global Fund fiasco, Tshabalala-Msimang has made international headlines again. She said on e.tv on Saturday she was "embarrassed" that South Africa would receive hundreds of millions of rands from the fund while fellow SADC states went without.
"I'm sure as South Africa we were happy to get $93,3-million dollars (about R930-million). But for me, as a member of SADC, I was embarrassed that Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia prepared proposals and that the only countries given were South Africa and Zimbabwe."
The Global Fund said on Monday that five, not two, SADC states had submitted successful proposals. One of them, Malawi, has been granted about $284-million (R2,8-billion) - nearly double the amount approved for South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal together.
Other SADC countries submitted proposals of such poor quality that they were asked to resubmit, said Hernan Rosenberg, head of the fund's proposals team.
Dr Chrispus Kiyonga, chairperson of the Global Fund's board, told the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona that the fund did not publish all the proposals for fear of embarrassing countries whose submissions were of poor quality.
All three countries named by Tshabalala-Msimang as not getting any money made submissions which were returned with recommendations on how they could be improved.
The South African National AIDS Council (Sanac), the body which is supposed to manage the money earmarked for South Africa, has denied that Tshabalala-Msimang "criticised the grant offered".
"One of the issues raised was the challenge that many of the developing and highly affected countries, particularly in the SADC region, got little or no funding at all."
The minister has also denied allegations that she tried to block US$71,9-million (R720-million) earmarked for KwaZulu Natal.
"I'm not Dr Do Little - I'm Dr Do Much!" she said in the same broadcast speech. "I'm not Dr No - I'm Dr Yes!"
SADC Countries that have been approved for funding are:
* Madagascar, which received $2-million (R20-million) to fight malaria.
* Malawi got $2,84-million (R28-million) to fight HIV.
* Zambia received $92,8-million (R920-million) to battle HIV.
* Zimbabwe received $14,1-million (R140-million) to fight HIV and $8,9-million (R89-million) to counter malaria, amounting to about R230-million in total.
Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and Swaziland were asked to re-apply. Angola did not apply. |
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