"No good deed goes unpunished."

That's the comment from an Internet blogger after the Eastern Cape department of health hurriedly removed an off-beat error message from its website.

The message - also known as a 404 message - said the page could not be found because it was on holiday, on strike or had performed an illegal operation, and so had been promoted to vice-president.

Comments on the message were posted on three different blogs.

"Earth calling Manto!!!! She must 'fix' this problem pronto!!!! And no, garlic or peeled lemon will not do," said one blogger.

"Thanks for the laugh," said another.

The new error message states: "Sorry the page you are looking for cannot be found, has moved or has been deleted."