ANC admits it knew about health minister's theft conviction.(News)

BYLINE: Boyd Webb

Pretoria: The ANC has, after two weeks of sustained media coverage, broken its silence on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, saying it had known of her conviction for theft.

In an interview with the Cape Times, ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama confirmed that the ANC and President Thabo Mbeki were aware of the 1976 theft conviction in Botswana when Tshabalala-Msimang was the medical superintendent at the Athlone Hospital in Lobatse.

"Yes, absolutely. People knew," he said. However, the conviction was …