President Cyril Ramaphosa has said he ‘welcomes the interest shown by South Africans’ in senior African National Congress (ANC) officials using a military VIP jet to visit Zimbabwe this week ‘as an indication of the nation’s vigilance against allegations of improper deployment of public resources’.
His spokesperson Tyrone Seale said Ramaphosa had asked defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to deliver an explanation within 48 hours of why ANC officials flying to Zimbabwe for a fact-finding mission used an army aircraft.
Earlier in the week, Mapisa-Nqakula’s department defended the party’s use of state resources by saying the ANC meeting with Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF coincided with her own official meetings and she merely gave them a lift.
Reports indicated that Mapisa-Nqakula was part of a delegation led by ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, and which included party chair Gwede Mantashe and national executive committee members Tony Yengeni, Lindiwe Zulu and Enoch Godongwana.
Seale said: ‘In the interest of good governance and the prudent and ethical use of state assets, the president has directed the minister to provide a report within 48 hours that will set out the circumstances around the flight and the passenger list.’