People should keep their hands off the deputy president, the ruling party on Tuesday told sections of the media and some political parties who continue to ”campaign against” Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Reacting to the flight-cost saga, African National Congress (ANC) spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said in a statement: ”The ANC remains concerned that even with clear evidence to the contrary, some people are hell-bent on tarnishing the image of the deputy president and by extension the image of the ANC-led government.”
Ngonyama was referring to suggestions that Mlambo-Ngcuka was involved in travel arrangements for a recent trip to the United Kingdom that set taxpayers back an estimated R4,55-million.
”Although it has been clearly explained that the responsibility for the air travel of the president and deputy president resides with the South African Air Force, and that the minister of defence has set up a board of inquiry into this particular flight, there are some who continue to suggest some form of wrongdoing on the part of the deputy president.”
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota earlier said a board of inquiry, chaired by someone from outside the department, would be set up to look into the matter.
Lekota emphasised that the Presidency could not to be blamed for hiring the plane, ”therefore any attempt to suggest that either the staff of the Presidency or the deputy president herself is to blame, must be rejected with the contempt it deserves”.
Ngonyama acknowledged that some media organisations had reported accurately, fairly and honestly on the matter and expressed the party’s appreciation for their professionalism.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that the Democratic Alliance (DA) had written to Presidency Director General Frank Chikane, asking him what progress has been made in updating the draft presidential handbook following Mlambo-Ngcuka’s recent flight to the UK.
Flying Mlambo-Ngcuka to the UK cost taxpayers an estimated R4,55-million, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday. This was ”irregular and way out of proportion with reasonable standards”, Lekota said in a statement.
The plane had been hired by someone in the Department of Defence without authorisation from the ministry, the secretary for defence or the acting chief of the South African National Defence Force.
DA MP Gareth Morgan noted in a statement on Monday that the Public Protector had in August made the recommendation that issues of travel by members of the Presidency should be incorporated into the handbook and discussed by the Cabinet ”as a matter of urgency”. — Sapa, I-Net Bridge