South Africa's health minister rebuffs allegations of alcoholism

South Africa's controversial health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, is facing sustained embarrassing accusations in the media, including allegations of alcoholism, bizarre behaviour in a hospital, and an earlier episode of theft, which, it is claimed, led to her being declared a prohibited immigrant in Botswana.

The allegations have been printed by South Africa's largest and most powerful weekly newspaper, the Sunday Times, which has run the stories over the past two weeks. The most recent allegations, run under the headline “Manto: a drunk and a thief,” claimed that the minister was an alcoholic and that this was the reason for her having had to have a liver transplant in March this year, …