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President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered Defense Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to provide him with a detailed report on the circumstances that led her to share a flight in Zimbabwe, with a high-level delegation of ANC leaders.
The minister used an Air Force VIP plane this week to fly ANC members, including social development minister Lindiwe Zulu, and ANC secretary general Ace Magashule, to the Zimbabwean capital Harare, ignoring regulations. level 2 lock.
According to a Sunday Times report, the Department of the Interior is ready to investigate whether passengers who flew into Harare violated national lockdown rules. Under current lockdown laws, the country’s borders remain closed to ordinary citizens like Magashule.
He said Internal Affairs Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi instructed his officials to carry out the investigation on Thursday.
The newspaper reported that the meeting with the Zimbabwean minister of defense and war veterans, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, lasted less than an hour. He said the ANC has denied that the trip was an abuse of taxpayer funds, claiming that the visit was in the national interest.
Only two members of the delegation are believed to be in self-quarantine after the trip.
The Democratic Alliance said ANC party officials used a state military plane as an ‘Uber’ to Harare, on party business. The trip was an example of the blurring of party and state lines and abuse of the state machinery. “It amounts to robbery of the people, by the ANC,” he said. “There is no indication of who paid for the delegation’s accommodation and other expenses.”
ANC official Nomvula Mokonyane told the Sunday Times that the trip was organized by Luthuli House.
“I was called as part of an ANC delegation, so everything that was organized for the trip was done through the ANC … the ANC’s international relations department has been responsible,” Mokonyane said.
Bloomberg informed the military that, they claimed, the visit coincided with an official meeting that Mapisa-Nqakula held in Harare, and did not incur additional expenses to bring the other party members.
“The president takes note of the public discussion that has been generated around a flight to Harare by Minister Mapisa-Nqakula, who had permission to travel to Zimbabwe to meet with her counterpart to discuss defense-related matters in the region afterwards from a recent SADC summit, “the presidency said in a statement.
“The President appreciates the interest shown by South Africans in this matter as an indication of the nation’s vigilance against allegations of improper deployment of public resources.”
Read: Ramaphosa in a show of force: ‘This will be a turning point in the fight against corruption’
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