Africa-Press – South-Africa. DA Leader John Steenhuisen says firing Andrew Whitfield as a deputy minister for travelling abroad on party-related business without the president’s permission is disproportionate when compared to the transgressions of ANC ministers.
Although the presidency has pointed out that former deputy ministers Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge were also fired in previous administrations for travel not sanctioned by former presidents, Steenhuisen says Ramaphosa only docked the salary of former defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula for allowing ANC officials to hitch a ride on a defence force flight in 2020.
Steenhuisen says Whitfield’s request to travel to the United States was never answered, and no state resources were used.
“I notice the Deputy Minister Alvin Botes thought he would be clever by publishing that he wrote, and the very next day he got permission. How is it that ANC deputy ministers write to president, they get an answer within 24 hours, but a DA deputy minister has still not received an answer. Had the president written back and said no, I could quite clearly understand.”
Steenhuisen says he had proposed alternative sanctions for Whitfield, but the president was having none of it.
“Either a public admonishment. I even said we would look at shuffling portfolios, which was the same remedy that was used for Minister Thembi Simelane when her allegations around the VBS bank originally broke. She was moved from justice to human settlements.”
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