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By IOL Reporter 
6h ago
Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa imposed a three-month pay freeze on Defense Minister Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula to recoup state money spent on relocating senior ANC officials, including party secretary general Ace Magashule, to Zimbabwe. using a state plane last month.
The Presidency confirmed on Sunday that Ramaphosa had issued Mapisa-Nqakula a formal reprimand and further sanctioned the minister by imposing a wage sacrifice on her salary for three months, starting on November 1, 2020.
“His salary for the three months must be paid into the Solidarity Fund, which was established to support the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic,” the Presidency said in a statement.
In addition, the president ordered the minister to ensure that the ANC reimburses the state for the cost of the flight to Harare and to inform it once it has been done.
“President Ramaphosa’s decision follows his consideration of his initial report and a supplementary report that he had instructed the minister to provide on the circumstances that led the ANC delegation to travel on a South African Air Force plane to Harare, Zimbabwe, on September 8, 2020.
“While the minister was on an official trip for which the president had given permission and for which she had the right to use a SAAF plane, she found that it was an error in judgment to use the plane to transfer a delegation from a political party”, added. Presidency said.
The president said that this misjudgment does not correspond to the responsibilities of a cabinet minister.
He found that the minister:
* did not “act … in the best interest of good governance” as required by the Code of Executive Members;
* did not comply with the legal prescriptions that justify the care in the use of state resources;
* acted “in a way that is inconsistent with [her] position ”as required by the Code.
According to the Presidency, in his letter of reprimand to the minister, Ramaphosa said that he appreciated that the ANC had promised to reimburse spent state resources in excess of what the minister would have incurred for her approved trip to meet with her Zimbabwean counterpart.
“However, the sanction imposed on the minister demonstrated the seriousness with which the president perceived the minister’s error in judgment, given her high position in the government.”
The district attorney has been pushing for Ramaphosa to fire Mapisa-Ngqakula after it was revealed that the Air Force’s Falcon-900 plane was used to take his comrades to Zimbabwe, where they met with their Zanu-PF counterparts. .
AfriForums also weighed in on the matter saying that it had launched an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of Air Force assets by senior members of the ANC and that it would also take legal action if it emerged that the state assets were used by the ANC. illegally.
The office of the public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said it was also investigating the matter.
Independent media may reveal that the minister discussed the contents of the letter with her staff, including her legal adviser, Lirette Louw, and Defense Secretary Sonto Kudjoe, during a Zoom meeting on Friday night.
Two senior ANC officials and department bureaucrats who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed receipt of the letter.
“As the ANC, we are still surprised that the president is targeting Comrade Nosiviwe because we understand that he was instructed to fly with the SG and them,” said an ANC member.
Another party member claims that the minister was being punished because she had refused to transfer Denel to another department.
MESS
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