By Professor Themba Sono
Nelson Mandela once praised Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula as an intelligent person. It was when she was chair of the portfolio committee on intelligence. Were Madiba alive today, I wonder whether he would have praised her for her intelligence.
The parliamentary committee on defence is calling her to explain her junket to Zimbabwe and of her “giving a lift”, in a SANDF aircraft, to her ANC colleagues. The madame’s illegal action displeased President Cyril Ramaphosa, so much that he docked her salary for three months. He should have fired her. After all, she confused national asserts with her personal belongings. This minister is in the habit of doing as she pleases with state resources.
Years ago, she flew to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on an SANDF aircraft and returned with a Burundian lass who was a friend of her lad’s, bypassing diplomatic and border-control protocols. An investigation was initiated but that was the last we heard of it.
The portfolio committee would also need to look at the DRC trip and inform citizens of the outcome of the investigation. ANC bigwigs have a habit of abusing state resources.
It seems some ministers are either unwilling or unable to read state guidelines about the dos and don’ts of their portfolio responsibilities. Remember Mosebenzi Zwane who did not know anything about the law, the Housing Act, which was supposed to guide and govern his responsibilities? Such are the Mamparas that govern us.
The Star