Slap on Mapisa-Nqakula’s wrist over Zimbabwe flight not good enough, DA says

Former defence and military veterans minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is due to appear before parliament on October 16 to account for a controversial trip to Zimbabwe during which she gave a lift to an ANC delegation on a military jet.

This is according to senior ANC MP and chair of the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on defence, Cyril Xaba, who said  Mapisa-Nqakula would appear before her oversight committee then.

“The matter is in the public space and the committee deserves to be briefed about the developments pertaining to her trip to Zimbabwe,” Xaba said on Tuesday.

Mapisa-Nqakula, the speaker of the National Assembly, was reprimanded by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday and had her full salary docked for three months as punishment for stunning the nation by flying with ANC leaders to Harare on a party-political mission using a government-owned jet earlier September 2020.

Ramaphosa’s reprimand of his former defence minister has been widely criticised as a slap on the wrist, with political parties and analysts calling for her to be fired.

The DA estimated the ANC’s use of the state jet could have cost taxpayers more than R260,000. The governing party has undertaken to reimburse the government.

Minister must not be exonerated

DA MP Kobus Marais said his party would ensure the meeting on October 16 was not turned into an exercise to exonerate Mapisa-Nqakula.

“The DA is of the view that parliament should play its oversight role on this matter to ensure accountability and transparency. We will, however, not allow the minister’s (sic) appearance before the defence committee to turn into an exercise to exonerate her. Unlike President Ramaphosa’s slap on the wrist, the minister (sic) should expect a grilling from the DA,” said Marais.

Marais said, among other things, they wanted Mapisa-Nqakula to explain why she allowed the ANC delegation to abuse an air force jet to travel to Zimbabwe for party-political discussions, and by virtue ignore the principle of separation of powers; whether the delegation received permission from transport minister Fikile Mbalula to travel abroad in the light of the level 2 lockdown regulations, and that supporting documents should be supplied; and the progress in terms of the ANC’s repayment, including calculations from independent aviation experts.

Marais also said Mapisa-Nqakula’s report about the incident should be made available.

“This brazen abuse of state resources by the minister and her party cannot be downplayed, especially since this was not [Mapisa-Nqakula’s] first time abusing military resources for personal and political ends. She also stands accused of smuggling her late son’s Burundian girlfriend on-board an air force VVIP jet.

“While Mapisa-Nqakula’s appearance before parliament is a step in the right direction, she should ultimately be fired by the president. In his own words, she ‘failed to adhere to legal prescripts warranting care in use of [state] resources’ and ‘acted in a way that is inconsistent with [her] position’.”

Correction: September 30 2022
This story has been corrected to reflect that Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is the former defence minister and is the current National Assembly speaker, and that the flight took place in September 2020.

TimesLIVE