South African President, Thabo Mbeki

President Thabo Mbeki has released the letter in which he dismissed South Africa's deputy health minister - on the ground that she was not a team player - after her sacking was condemned by Aids activists, who said it was a setback in the fight against the virus.

Mr Mbeki's unusual decision to go public was taken "in an effort to prevent further speculation and misrepresentations of facts," said a government spokesman.

The letter accused Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge of having failed to act on criticism from the President about her "inability to work as part of a collective" with colleagues at the Health Ministry. Mr Mbeki noted that similar complaints were levelled against her while she served in a previous post as deputy defence minister. Referring to her decision to attend an Aids conference in Madrid, which prompted the president to fire her last week, Mr Mbeki wrote: "You travelled to Madrid despite the fact that I had declined your request to undertake this trip. It is clear to me you have no intention to abide by the constitutional prescriptions that bind all of us. For this reason I suggested to you that you should resign. It is clear that you do not accept my advice. This leaves me no choice but to relieve you of your duties," the letter went on.

Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Mrs Madlala-Routledge said she attended the Madrid conference, accompanied by her son, "in good faith" in the belief that the trip had been approved by Mr Mbeki.

The President is an ally of the Health Minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who is known as "Dr Beetroot" because of her recommendation to people suffering from HIV to eat beetroot and garlic to stave off full-blown Aids.

The Health Minister had a personal feud with her deputy, who was an outspoken critic of the President's Aids policy and is credited with ending a decade of Aids denial in the South African political leadership. One in 10 South Africans is HIV- positive but only a third of those in need of life-saving drugs receive them.