A loss for South Africa

I was sorry to read in the press today that Quaker politician Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge has been sacked from her post as deputy Health Minister for South Africa (see Independent article). Apparently there was some mix up about her attendance at a conference on Aids in Madrid. But many people are particularly distressed about her departure as she had been a well-placed critic of President Thabo Mbeki's ostrich-like approach to Aids, which is having such a devastating effect on southern Africa. I hope she will find some other outlet for her obvious political and moral contribution - read an interview with her here, for instance.