SOUTH AFRICA’S PRESIDENT SLASHES SALARY OF DEFENCE MINISTER OVER MISUSE OF AIR FORCE PLANE
Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa, has slashed the three months salary of the country’s Minister of Defence, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakul, over misuse of its air force plane.
She was accused of allowing governing party officials to fly on an air force plane to Zimbabwe with her on September 9, 2020.
The Minister of Defence had said she was on official business and had simply given the other passengers a lift.
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had been to travelling to Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, for a scheduled meeting to discuss regional issues.
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She led a delegation from South Africa's governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), for crisis talks with Zimbabwe's ruling party, Zanu-PF, aimed at helping the country to tackle its political and economic challenges.
But President Ramaphosa, who was extremely critical of the fact that she let the ANC delegation fly with her in the same aircraft, called it an "error of judgement".
Mr Ramaphosa, who had vowed to clean up the ANC's reputation after a decade of corruption scandals, said that by giving the ANC delegates a lift on the plane, she had not acted in the best interest of good governance.
The President decided to slash her pay, with the money going to a special fund set aside for tackling the Coronavirus pandemic.
The opposition’s Democratic Alliance party, who said Mr Ramaphosa has not done enough in reprimanding the Minister, has described her punishment as a ‘slap on the his wrist.’
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