Ramaphosa gave Mapisa-Nqakula verbal nod for visit ‘
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday sought to clear the perception that he only gave defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula permission to travel to Zimbabwe after she had returned.
A letter from the presidency granting the minister permission to travel on official business to Harare was dated September 10, the day she arrived back from visiting the country.
The letter formed part of the report Mapisa-Nqakula submitted to Ramaphosa after it emerged that an ANC delegation travelled with her to Zimbabwe on an SA Air Force (SAAF) jet.
Mapisa-Nqakula had a business meeting with her Zimbabwean counterpart, but was also part of the ANC delegation that met members of the governing Zanu-PF party.
The presidency said Ramaphosa had received a written request for travel from the minister dated September 7, but because he was not in Gauteng when the request was submitted, he gave MapisaNqakula verbal approval to travel on September 8 and then signed the documentation when he returned to the province.
Ramaphosa gave MapisaNqakula written confirmation that he had approved the travel on September 10.
At the weekend, Ramaphosa reprimanded the minister over the saga and instructed that she take a three-month salary penalty. Her salary will be paid into the Solidarity Fund, established to tackle needs arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The minister took a lot of flak for transporting the ANC delegation to Harare.
The party has since said it will reimburse the state the cost of ferrying its delegation to Zimbabwe.
An invoice for the flight was attached to Mapisa-Nqakula s report and showed that the ANC would have to pay R105,545.46 to the defence department.
In her report, the minister also defended transporting the ANC delegation, saying she was not aware she needed to get specific permission.
She said it was a regular occurrence in the use of the SAAF s aircraft to provide for the ferrying of businesspeople or the like if all were travelling to the same destination and the aircraft was being used for official government purposes.