Durban - Science and Technology deputy minister Zanele Magwaza-Msibi was admitted this week to eThekwini Hospital & Heart Centre, Newlands East, north Durban, suffering from exhaustion and fatigue.
Magwaza-Msibi was spotted on Thursday in the company of her daughter as she apparently tried to conceal her identity. This comes six months after she went on official leave after falling ill on November 16.
The Sunday Independent can confirm that Magwaza-Msibi suffered exhaustion and fatigue following a gruelling six months of electioneering before last year’s general elections which saw her criss-cross the country for the first time as a president of her party, the National Freedom Party (NFP).
Previously it was speculated that Magwaza-Msibi had suffered a stroke, but Professor Nhlanhla Khubisa, secretary-general and chief whip of the NFP, said yesterday she is now out of hospital.
Doctors confirmed her condition had improved significantly after she was diagnosed as being “exhausted and tired” after the tight schedule of her campaigning during national elections.
“She is now at home, and doctors have said that she will be back at work within a few months. We’re excited about this as the NFP.
“Doctors have advised her to be at home resting, are satisfied with her condition and have promised the family she will soon be allowed to meet with the public and to continue with her normal duties,” said Khubisa.
Magwaza-Msibi’s NFP garnered fifth position overall nationally in last year’s general elections, with less than 2 percent of the vote. It was the first time the NFP had entered national politics; previously it was a provincial party focused on KwaZulu-Natal as a splinter group from the Inkatha Freedom Party.
Her party members have not seen her since she took ill six months ago.
President Jacob Zuma invited Magwaza-Msibi to be a deputy minister, a non-cabinet position, as part of powers invested in him by the constitution.
He can invite no more than two members of the National Assembly that do not necessarily belong to his party to be part of government.
A teacher who visited the hospital, where she saw Magwaza-Msibi on Thursday in the company of her daughter, said: “She looked sickly and has lost weight so much that I didn’t recognise her until I saw her daughter, who was helping cover up her identity. “Zanele hid her face using a head-wrap. She’s sickly beyond recognition.”
But spokesman Canaan Mdletshe, who confirmed that Magwaza-Msibi was indeed at the hospital on Thursday, said: “She went to the doctors. It’s nothing extraordinary. It’s part of the routine check-ups she undergoes now and then for her healing process. She’s been on official leave since she fell sick on November 16 after an imbizo she hosted in Nongoma.”
Mdletshe added: “Never mind that she’s a public figure, her health remains a private matter.
“I’m aware that there has been speculation that her illness was caused by a stroke, but that’s just speculation.”
Sunday Tribune