President Cyril Ramaphosa has given Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula 48 hours to explain why she shared a flight with the ANC delegation.
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule at the post-NEC media briefing on 30 July 2019, at Luthuli House. Picture: Kayleen Morgan/EWN
CAPE TOWN/JOHANNESBURG – President Cyril Ramaphosa has intervened in a probe of alleged improper deployment of public resources by senior government officials who used a defence force jet to fly to Zimbabwe.
A high-ranking delegation comprising of Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and of the ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule flew to Harare in a state-owned jet at the taxpayers’ expense.
The president has given Mapisa-Nqakula 48 hours to explain why she shared a flight with the delegation.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) called on Ramaphosa to make an urgent public statement on how the governing party illegally benefited from an aircraft of the state he leads.
The opposition party said that this was “a flagrant blurring of state and party lines and abuse of state machinery,” amounting to theft from South Africans by the ANC.
In a statement, President Ramaphosa said that he’d noted the public discussion that has been generated around the flight to Harare, saying that it was an indication of the country’s vigilance against allegations of improper use of public resources.
Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly had the permission of Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula to travel to Zimbabwe to meet her counterpart to discuss defence-related matters in the region following a recent SADC summit.