CAPE TOWN, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - South Africa's ruling ANC flexed its parliamentary muscle Thursday to shield the health minister from a proposed probe by her peers after claims of alcoholism, kleptomania and incompetence.
The African National Congress used its 74 percent majority in parliament to vote down a motion by the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) that a committee be set up to probe Manto Tshabalala-Msimang's suitability for office.
Instead, it pushed through an amended motion expressing the National Assembly's "full confidence" in the minister.
Newspapers have accused Tshabalala-Msimang of incompetence, alcoholism and theft, publishing claims that the minister, who underwent a liver transplant earlier this year, has a drinking problem and has been treated for kleptomania.
Long under fire for her championing of vegetables to help combat AIDS, Tshabalala-Msimang-Msimang faced increased calls to resign on the back of claims that she was convicted of theft while working as a hospital administrator in Botswana three decades ago.
But she continues to enjoy the backing of President Thabo Mbeki who has himself questioned the link between HIV and AIDS.
DA parliamentary leader Sandra Botha told MPs Thursday that South Africa's infant mortality and maternal death rates had rocketed on Tshabalala-Msimang's watch, while 1,000 people died daily of AIDS.
"This minister has presided over the deaths, unnecessarily, of very many thousands of South Africans. If we don't act now, not only history but all the vulnerable people in this country will judge us very harshly."
But ANC MP James Ngculu defended "Comrade Manto", labelling the DA motion unconstitutional and irrelevant. He did not address any of the allegations.
"We are being requested to allow one of us to be savaged by hyenas in the garb of the Democratic Alliance, the lead force of the right-wing in our country," Ngculu said to loud applause.
The motion, as amended by the ANC, was passed by 176 votes to 55 with two abstentions.
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