SAfrica health min goes to court over drink story

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 16 (Reuters) South Africa's health minister has asked a court to recover missing records that a newspaper says it used to support a story that she smuggled whisky and wine into a hospital during treatment.

The Health Ministry said in a statement today that lawyers for Manto Tshabalala-Msimang had filed an application with the Johannesburg High Court to recover medical records she says are in the possession of South Africa's Sunday Times.

The paper published a front-page story at the weekend saying the minister, nicknamed ''Dr Beetroot'' for advocating herbal remedies to treat AIDS, smuggled red wine and whisky into a private hospital when undergoing surgery two years ago.

''The newspaper's access to and possession of any of (the minister's) medical records is an unlawful and unconstitutional invasion of her rights,'' the statement said, adding the newspaper had breached the minister's ''privacy and dignity''.

The Health Ministry has said the story is false, according to South African media. No one at the ministry could immediately be reached to comment today.

Tshabalala-Msimang has angered AIDS activists by promoting natural remedies instead of drugs to treat HIV/AIDS and the report prompted renewed calls for President Thabo Mbeki to sack her. Mbeki has stuck by the minister.

The Sunday Times declined to hand over the documents earlier this week, according to a letter posted on its website, and denied it had broken the law.

The paper said the minister had abused her position by ordering hospital staff to fetch her alcohol. It said it spent five months researching the story, and that it had confirmed the facts through hospital records and interviews.

It quoted witnesses as saying the minister, who had a liver transplant this year, had been drunk on several occasions.

Mbeki last week sacked his widely respected deputy health minister, who reportedly clashed with Tshabalala-Msimang over her outspoken approach to HIV/AIDS.

The Sunday Times said its story was ''appropriate as the nation weighs up the merits of the leader who was dismissed and the one who has kept her job''.

The Cape Town clinic that treated Tshabalala-Msimang has lodged a complaint of theft, the Health Ministry said.

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