President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended deputy minister of small business development, Dipuo Peters, without pay for one month over violations of the ministerial code of ethics.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended deputy minister of small business development, Dipuo Peters, without pay for one month over violations of the ministerial code of ethics.
In a statement on Friday, the presidency said that the decision followed on a sanction adopted by Parliament’s joint committee of ethics and members interests for breaching the code of conduct while she was minister of transport.
The one month period of suspension would run from 28 February to 28 March 1994, the presidency said.
Last October, the parliamentary committee found that Peters’ failure to appoint a group chief executive officer at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) after it had launched a recruitment process had ultimately cost the entity R1.76 million.
The committee found Peters had “failed to act on all occasions with the public trust placed in her” and had failed to discharge her obligations in terms of the constitution.
Peters had “not placed the public interest above her own interests.’
Peters had dismissed the Prasa board three months before the end of its term, allegedly to prevent the finding of an investigation into R14 billion in irregular expenditure during 2015.
The committee said in its finding that Peters “was neglectful” while transport ministers for failing to appoint a new Prasa group CEO, one of three violations of the code which she had committed during her term at transport.
Peters had gone to court to challenge the ruling by the committee but failed.
In January the Western Cape High Court dismissed her urgent application to stop parliament from taking action, paving the way for her suspension, which the committee said should take place during a single sitting.
In 2021 Peters was unable to defend her decisions around Prasa in her battle with then board chairperson Popo Molefe, who she fired, in her 2021 testimony at the Zondo Commission into State Capture.
Peters conceded that her decision not to appoint a new CEO at Prasa was “irrational” and had been made out of a sense of frustration in dealing with the board led by Molefe.