/ 18 July 2006

DA slams Nqakula’s absence in current violent climate

It begs belief that the Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula, has had ”the unmitigated gall” to accept a position as the leader of the over 200-strong election observer delegation to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) elections ”when he is failing so abjectly at his job back home in South Africa”, the Democratic Alliance’s spokesperson on safety and security, Dianne Kohler Barnard said in a statement on Tuesday.

”He has once again chosen to swan about the world posing as a leader of sorts, when 51 people a day are murdered, raped and tortured in their very homes. What is this man doing travelling to Kampala, Bujumbura and now the DRC?” Kohler Barnard asked.

The minister of foreign affairs had, at last count, two deputies, either of whom could do the job, as could any other deputy minister from the Cabinet, or indeed many of the heads of other ministries, Kohler Barnard added.

”While minister Nqakula refuses to release the crime statistics this country has watched with outrage as his Commissioner Selebi cherry picked his way through them to utilise as props to his rocky professional platform.

”Why does minister Nqakula not focus his attention on his own portfolio and leave foreign adventures to some of his under-used colleagues?” — I-Net Bridge