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By Jonisayi Maromo 
12h ago
PRETORIA – The Presidency has challenged claims that Defense Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula left South Africa on a South African Air Force plane for Zimbabwe, with senior ANC members also on board, without the express approval of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Acting Presidential Spokesman Tyrone Seale said Ramaphosa received the request to travel from Mapisa-Nqakula on September 7 and the President verbally approved the trip on September 8, the day of departure.
“President Cyril Ramaphosa received a written travel request from Minister Mapisa-Nqakula dated September 7, 2020. The minister requested permission to travel to Zimbabwe from September 8 to 10, 2020 to hold a bilateral meeting with his counterpart from Zimbabwe, the Veterans Defense and War Minister, Mrs. Oppah Chamu Muchinguri-Kashiri, ”said Seale.
“As the President was not in Gauteng at the time the Minister submitted her request, he (Ramaphosa) verbally approved the trip on September 8, 2020 and signed the relevant documentation upon his return to Gauteng.”
Seale said on September 10, a day after the South African entourage returned from Zimbabwe, the Presidency gave Mapisa-Nqakula written confirmation that Ramaphosa had approved their trip.
On Thursday, the district attorney said Ramaphosa must be held accountable for the ANC’s controversial trip to Zimbabwe for inter-party talks.
“Just as Mapisa-Nqakula must be held accountable for his crimes, the president must also be held accountable for his action in this matter. Very recently he has expressed outrage at corrupt officials who steal state coffers for a time that left South Africans particularly vulnerable, ”said DA MP Kobus Marais.
“By sanctioning this illegal trip in hindsight, his own action has shown how hypocritical that outrage was, nothing but stage art. The president had the perfect opportunity to take a firm stance against corruption by firing Mapisa-Nqakula. He squandered that opportunity and put his stamp of approval on it instead. “
Marais said Ramaphosa “only gave Defense Minister and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula permission to travel to Zimbabwe after she had already returned” to South Africa.
This was revealed in the minister’s report on the ANC’s abuse of an air force plane to travel to Harare for party political affairs. The president only approved Minister Mapisa-Nqakula’s request to travel to Zimbabwe on September 10, a full day after the delegation’s return, ”Marais said.
“This means that Mapisa-Nqakula and his entourage left the country illegally without the approval of the president and in violation of the Code of Executive Ethics that governs executive travel. The district attorney will present this information as supplemental evidence in our complaint against the minister to Parliament’s ethics committee. “
Ramaphosa this week ordered documentation related to the controversial visit to Zimbabwe to be made public.
The district attorney argued that Ramaphosa approved “an illegality because he approved a trip that had already been made” without his permission.
“It is clear that it is not only the minister (Mapisa-Nqakula) and the ANC, but now also the president who has a case to answer for,” Marais said.
African News Agency
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