MBABANE: President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed Communications, Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams on special leave for violating the national lockdown regulations, after a photo of her sitting down for lunch during a visit to the home of disgraced former Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana was circulated.
According to Business Day, Ndabeni-Abrahams has been placed on two months leave, with one month unpaid, the presidency said on Wednesday. Ramaphosa has also directed Ndabeni-Abrahams to make a public apology to the country.
Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu will act in Ndabeni-Abrahams’s position.
Manana, who, in 2018, was convicted of assaulting a woman at a nightclub, posted a photo of a group of people, including Ndabeni-Abrahams, having a meal during SA’s 21-day national lockdown. Manana is still a member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee.
There has been a public outcry over Ndabeni-Abrahams’s conduct, at a time when some South Africans have been arrested for not adhering to the rules, with police and soldiers being accused of brutality in some cases.
The photo prompted Ramaphosa to summon Ndabeni-Abrahams to a meeting.
Presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko said Ramaphosa expressed his disapproval of the minister’s actions, which undermined the requirement that all citizens stay at home and save SA from the spread of the coronavirus.
“The president accepted the minister’s apology for the violation but was unmoved by mitigating factors she tendered,” Diko told Business Day, adding that as to allegations that Ndabeni-Abrahams violated the lockdown regulations, “the law should take its course”.
On Tuesday, Manana released a statement in which he tried to defend Ndabeni-Abrahams, saying that the minister arrived at his house to pick up personal protective equipment (PPE) for students who were working on Covid-19 digital services. He and his family were about to sit down to a meal and invited her to join them.
Ramaphosa said the nationwide lockdown called for absolute compliance on the part of all South Africans and members of the executive carried a special responsibility in setting an example.
“None of us — not least a member of the national executive — should undermine our national effort to save lives in this very serious situation,” the president said. “I am satisfied that minister Ndabeni-Abrahams appreciates the seriousness of what she has done and that no-one is above the law.”
In a video on Wednesday, a visibly upset-looking Ndabeni-Abrahams apologised to Ramaphosa, the national command council and the country.
“I regret the incident and I am deeply sorry for my actions,” she said.
“I hope the president and you South Africans will find it in your hearts to forgive me.”
Ndabeni-Abrahams acknowledged that Ramaphosa had placed her on special leave and undertook to abide to the conditions of the leave.
Meanwhile, the ANC said it supported Ramaphosa’s decision against Ndabeni-Abrahams.
“The ANC calls on all its deployees and the rest of society to respect and abide by the letter and spirit of all lockdown regulations in order to effectively disrupt the chain of transmission occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic,” spokesperson Pule Mabe was quoted by Business Day to have said.
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