Durban - The National Freedom Party head office has been inundated with calls from supporters desperate to know the condition of their president, Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi, who is in intensive care at eThekwini Hospital and Heart Centre in Durban.
Sources said since being admitted early this week, KaMagwaza-Msibi, the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, had been kept sedated with only close family members allowed to see her.
Party insiders said KaMagwaza-Msibi had been burning the candle at both ends, and was exhausted.
The Mercury heard on Wednesday that KaMagwaza-Msibi’s daughter, actor Gugu Magwaza, was also briefly treated in hospital on Monday after hearing of her mother’s condition. She was given sugar water and was allowed to leave the hospital after recovering from the shock.
KaMagwaza-Msibi was transferred from a private clinic in Newcastle after she had collapsed in her home.
Her spokesman, Canaan Mdletshe, said on Wednesday that she had “shown signs of improvement since her hospitalisation”.
However, there was concern at the head office in Durban.
“The leadership held a meeting on Thursday, but they had nothing much to discuss because they don’t know much about her condition,” said an official who works at the office.
Another source said not even party leaders were allowed into the hospital. “I cannot tell you much because only the close family are allowed in. We have been instructed not to talk,” said the source.
An attempt to talk to party leaders, including national chairman Maliyakhe Shelembe, failed because their phones were off.
It is believed that KaMagwaza-Msibi was with her domestic worker at home when she collapsed while dressing in her bedroom on Sunday.
On the previous day, she and Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor had attended a departmental meeting in Ulundi, then later she had travelled home to Newcastle.
It’s believed she was preparing to travel back to Ulundi to attend a sports event when she collapsed.
Mdletshe had said early this week that the NFP leader was being treated for exhaustion.
Nongoma mayor Jeremiah Mavundla, an NFP member, said he had only been told that a doctor had instructed KaMagwaza-Msibi to rest.
The Mercury