Some also took issue with the visit, saying it was in breach of lockdown regulations since travelling beyond SA's borders was forbidden without special permission.
Marais said the ANC government had a culture of covering up wrongdoing by cadres, hence the insistence on making Mapisa-Nqakula's report on the saga public.
“The report cannot be allowed to gather dust on President Ramaphosa’s desk in an attempt to make South Africans forget that this flagrant abuse of state resources ever happened,” said Marais.
“SA can ill afford another whitewashed report that exonerates ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and his cronies from violating lockdown regulations — especially when this ANC government thought it a good idea to criminalise thousands of South Africans for trying to buy cigarettes during the Covid-19 lockdown and on one memorable occasion arresting the parents of a toddler for setting foot on a beach when the child had run off.
“We know that this government is fond of obscuring its own criminality. Let’s not forget the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF) shambolic report that absolved the soldiers responsible for Collins Khosa’s death.”
Magashule had no business being in a state-sponsored aircraft because he served nowhere in government, said Marais. If no action is taken against him, he said, the country was as good as Animal Farm under the ANC government.
“It is high time that the ANC faces the consequences of their actions — that they are arrested, as ordinary South Africans were arrested for lesser crimes,” said Marais. “Show us, Mr President, that what is good for the goose is indeed good for the gander.”
TimesLIVE
Mapisa-Nqakula report on ANC flight must be made public: DA
Image: Masi Losi
The DA has demanded that President Cyril Ramaphosa make public the report about an alleged breach of lockdown regulations and apparent abuse of a state aircraft by an ANC delegation to Zimbabwe.
The demand was made by the official opposition’s shadow minister of defence Kobus Marais. Marais said the report that defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was expected to submit to Ramaphosa on Monday must also be subjected to scrutiny by parliament.
The controversy started last week after an ANC delegation that left for Zimbabwe made use of an aircraft operated by the SA military.
Opposition parties slammed it as an abuse of state resources in that ANC business had nothing to do with the state.
Some also took issue with the visit, saying it was in breach of lockdown regulations since travelling beyond SA's borders was forbidden without special permission.
Marais said the ANC government had a culture of covering up wrongdoing by cadres, hence the insistence on making Mapisa-Nqakula's report on the saga public.
“The report cannot be allowed to gather dust on President Ramaphosa’s desk in an attempt to make South Africans forget that this flagrant abuse of state resources ever happened,” said Marais.
“SA can ill afford another whitewashed report that exonerates ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and his cronies from violating lockdown regulations — especially when this ANC government thought it a good idea to criminalise thousands of South Africans for trying to buy cigarettes during the Covid-19 lockdown and on one memorable occasion arresting the parents of a toddler for setting foot on a beach when the child had run off.
“We know that this government is fond of obscuring its own criminality. Let’s not forget the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF) shambolic report that absolved the soldiers responsible for Collins Khosa’s death.”
Magashule had no business being in a state-sponsored aircraft because he served nowhere in government, said Marais. If no action is taken against him, he said, the country was as good as Animal Farm under the ANC government.
“It is high time that the ANC faces the consequences of their actions — that they are arrested, as ordinary South Africans were arrested for lesser crimes,” said Marais. “Show us, Mr President, that what is good for the goose is indeed good for the gander.”
TimesLIVE
ANC abusing state resources – analysts
George Orwell had ANC in mind, in 1944
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