Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma has entered the fray after reports that Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly smuggled a Burundian national into South Africa on an SA Air Force jet.
Zuma said on Sunday he had received a report from the minister and was looking into the matter.
This comes after the Sunday Times reported the woman’s father had denied abusing her and that his daughter had been set to secretly marry Mapisa-Nqakula’s late son, Chumani Nqakula.
Chumani Nqakula was stabbed to death in Johannesburg, allegedly by his friend, Carlos Higuera, in 2015.
It was first reported that Mapisa-Nqakula had allegedly organised a false passport for the 22-year-old Burundian woman to travel to South Africa with her in 2014.
She was allegedly picked up in the Democratic Republic of Congo by the minister using a state jet.
In her defence, Mapisa-Nqakula reportedly said she had rescued the Burundian from an abusive father and had had proper documentation arranged with the relevant authorities to let her enter South Africa.
The minister was also reported to have said she was on her way to a meeting in Addis Ababa and had made a stopover in Kinshasa, not to fetch the Burundian, but to meet officials.
Zuma’s spokesperson, Bongani Ngqulunga, said:
“President Jacob Zuma has received a preliminary briefing from the minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Mapisa-Nqakula, on the circumstances surrounding her transportation of a Burundian national to South Africa in January 2014.
“The president is considering the matter and there is no further comment from the Presidency at this stage.”
Opposition parties have accused the minister of flouting immigration laws and regulations.
The woman has been in the country for more than two years and the minister has allegedly insisted she was taken from her country because she was being abused by her father.
But her father on Sunday denied the claims, saying he was a business partner of the minister.
It is not clear what the nature of the business is.
The DA has said it would ask Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to investigate Mapisa-Nqakula.
DA spokesperson on defence Kobus Marais said Mapisa-Nqakula had violated her oath of office as well as the defence laws of the country.
In addition, she had violated the immigration laws, he said.
He said it was clear from the beginning that Mapisa-Nqakula was not telling the truth when she denied any personal benefit from the saga involving the woman.
But the evidence had pointed to that, insisted Marais.
He said this alleged action by Mapisa-Nqakula should not go unpunished.
Madonsela is in the final months of her term of office and the new public protector is expected to be announced at the end of August.
Parliament is in the process of finding a new public protector to take over from Madonsela.
Madonsela was appointed by Zuma in 2009.
Cape Times