Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa will first consider the report on the controversial flight to Zimbabwe before the presidency will comment.
This is what the president’s spokesperson, Tyrone Seale, said on Monday after receiving a report from Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Minister of Defense and Military Veterans, of the circumstances that led to a senior ANC delegation last week, went with her to Harare in an air force plane.
Ramaphosa asked Mapisa-Nqakula on Friday night to give him a detailed report on how it happened within 48 hours.
This was after a commotion erupted as the ANC delegation flew to Harare in an air force plane for talks with the ruling Zanu-PF party in Zimbabwe over the political and economic crisis in that country.
Kobus Marais, DA spokesperson on defense, in turn said in a statement on Monday that it was important in the interest of transparency that the report be issued for a thorough public and parliamentary inquiry.
“The report cannot be allowed to lie in the president’s office and gather dust in an attempt to make South Africans forget that this flagrant misuse of state resources has taken place.”
Marais said it was also worrying that the Covid-19 restriction regulations were likely violated.
Experts and opposition parties have accused the ANC of not distinguishing between state and party. They insist that the ANC pay the cost of the flight.
Ace Magashule, secretary general of the ANC, led the delegation.
Three ministers, Mapisa-Nqakula, who were on an official visit to Zimbabwe to hold bilateral talks with her counterpart, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Gwede Mantashe, chairperson of the ANC, and Lindiwe Zulu, a member of the ANC’s national executive committee, were members of the ANC delegation.
Ramaphosa stressed that Mapisa-Nqakula had permission for her official visit.
Meanwhile, the Department of Home Affairs is also investigating the possible violation of the detention regulations. This is because not everyone went into isolation at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria on Thursday after the group’s return.
Ramaphosa said on Friday night that he welcomed the interest shown by South Africans in this issue. “This is an indication of the nation’s vigilance over allegations of improper use of public resources.”
EFF leader Julius Malema told the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg on Monday morning that he had no objection to an ANC delegation going to Zimbabwe to do something about the crisis in that country. “But I have a problem with them doing it with a state plane. It was irresponsible. An account must be sent to the ANC. “
EFF spokesperson Malema and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi appeared in the magistrate’s court on a charge of assault.
