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The president has suspended the minister’s salary for three months, instead of allocating the money to the solidarity fund to support the country’s response to the pandemic.
FILE: Minister of Defense and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula at a press conference on March 16, 2020 on the government’s plans to slow the spread of the coronavirus in South Africa. Image: Sethembiso Zulu / EWN
JOHANNESBURG – There are increasing calls for Defense Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to be fired, and political parties and civil organizations accuse President Cyril Ramaphosa of downplaying the blatant abuse of state resources.
Ramaphosa issued details of the minister’s sanction over the weekend after it emerged that she allowed a high-ranking delegation from the African National Congress (ANC) to take a South African National Defense Force plane to Zimbabwe earlier in this month.
The president suspended the minister’s salary for three months and instead allocated the money to the Solidarity Fund to support the country’s response to the pandemic.
The ANC will also have to reimburse the state for the costs of the flight.
Despite the president’s intervention, critics have called the sentence a slap on the wrist.
Following the damning findings against Mapisa-Nqakula, Kobus Marais of the Democratic Alliance (DA) said the punishment did not fit the crime.
Marais said the president had illustrated weak leadership by holding his party members and his executive accountable.
“These are damning findings against the minister and yet he only gets a slap on the wrist. We simply cannot allow the minister to get away with it. The district attorney considers these transgressions a serious violation of his oath of office. The president has no choice but to relieve him of his duties immediately. “
Wayne Duvenage of The Organization Undoing Tax Abuse also weighed in on the matter.
Slapping her with a three-month salary fine and berating her is not enough. She should be removed from her post. It is time for a cabinet shakeup and we believe that she should not be allowed to sit in that position. “
Meanwhile, Freedom Front Plus, which filed a complaint with the Public Protector, said that the sanction, inadequate as it was, served to make the president recognize that the minister’s conduct was truly unacceptable.
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