CAPE TOWN, Aug 10 (Reuters) - South Africa's sacked deputy health minister, praised for her efforts to tackle AIDS, said on Friday that disagreements over how to fight the deadly virus might have led to her dismissal.

AIDS activists and opposition politicians have criticised President Thabo Mbeki for sacking Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge earlier this week.

Madlala-Routledge told a news conference that Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who had suggested fighting AIDS with garlic and beetroot rather than drug treatments, might have been behind Mbeki's decision to fire her.

Madlala-Routledge said the health minister had threatened to hit back when she had spoken against using nutrition as a treatment two years ago: "She (the health minister) has said to me: 'I will fix you' and maybe she has fixed me."

AIDS policy is a touchstone issue in a country where an estimated 12 percent of the 47 million population is infected with HIV. About 1,000 South Africans die each day of AIDS and related diseases.

The news conference was broadcast live on radio in South Africa and the sacking has been front-page news.

Mbeki's office has said he did not need to give reasons for the move.

"According to the Constitution, the president does not have to give reasons," Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga told SAFM radio on Friday, saying that was necessary to avoid that the president be dragged into "mud-slinging in public."

Madlala-Routledge also said she had been punished for speaking out on dire health problems at a maternity ward and for an unauthorised trip to an AIDS conference in Spain.

South African media reported this week that Madlala-Routledge had travelled to Spain with her son and a consultant, at a cost to the taxpayer of 160,000 rand ($22,310), to attend the conference without seeking Mbeki's approval.

That sparked speculation she could face the axe from Mbeki, who has stuck by Tshabalala-Msimang despite criticism over her AIDS policies.

Madlala-Routledge said Mbeki thought it was not up to politicians to participate in such conferences but that she disagreed.

She said that on learning that Mbeki opposed her presence she had not taken part in the conference, although she had already arrived in Spain.

AIDS activists were delighted when Madlala-Routledge took the lead on AIDS policy when the health minister was forced to take time off due to illness and applauded her direct and proactive approach to the disease. (Additional reporting by Wendell Roelf)

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