Cape Town - A fourth serious public protector (PP) complaint against President Cyril Ramaphosa has been laid – this time for his use of an SANDF helicopter to attend an ANC event.
The trip to Welkom in the Free State flies in the face of acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka finding against former Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula for misusing an SANDF aircraft in September 2020.
Ramaphosa last month fined Mapisa-Nqakula three months’ salary for flying to Zimbabwe using an SANDF plane, with six ANC leaders, including Ace Magashule.
The Presidential Handbook, which does not specify whether the president can or can’t use SANDF aircraft for party activities, reads: “14.3. Air transport for the President and Deputy President in South Africa is the responsibility and for the account of SANDF, who may use SANDF aircraft or any aircraft chartered by the SANDF for the purpose.”
Approached for comment, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said: “SAPS and the SANDF are required to ensure that the president of the Republic is at all times securely conveyed including when he is attending to private matters.”
However, DA spokesperson on security and justice George Michalakis said: “I don’t quite buy the argument that it was necessary for his safety. First, members of the Cabinet use commercial airlines with VIP protection all the time.
“We must also remember that this is not an official state event, but an ANC event. Why should taxpayers pay towards an ANC event?”
Michalakis’s complaint against Ramaphosa comes after the president bowed to public pressure to scrap free water and electricity for executives, as provided for in the Ministerial Handbook, earlier this week.
Despite his rescission of ministers’ perks, the DA – which opened a PP case against him – maintains it is pressing ahead with the case.
Michalakis on Tuesday wrote to the PP’s office to complain about Ramaphosa’s use of an SANDF Oryx helicopter “as a taxi” to visit the ANC’s Letsema campaign and engage with local ANC branches in the Free State.
Ramaphosa, clad in the party’s green, black and gold, was spotted landing in the military helicopter.
Michalakis alleged that this was Ramaphosa’s second transgression in the area. He said Ramaphosa and Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela in July handed over a state-funded house as part of the launch of the ANC’s Letsema campaign, which has also been filed as a complaint to the public protector.
“The lengths that the governing party will go to for political gain clearly have no bounds,” Michalakis said.
“It is of grave concern that the SANDF, a supposedly impartial organisation, is involved in politicking. The ANC has repeatedly shown its disregard for the separation of party and State and is wilfully misusing taxpayers’ money to fund its own campaign.”
The three complaints compound the woes of the embattled president, who already faces a PP probe into the break-in at his Phala Phala game farm, where millions in forex was stolen.
Former spy boss Arthur Fraser opened a PP case and made a myriad allegations about the aftermath of the break-in, which allegedly included torture of the thieves, the use of police resources, including a helicopter, even though no case was formally opened, and the president’s alleged failure to report a crime.
The complaints bear a common theme: the alleged abuse of taxpayers’ money.
In his PP complaint, Michalakis said: “It is a serious risk to our democracy if, a few months before a general election and a possible handover of political power, the Defence Force is used for party political activities.
“The president, I would argue, was not safer simply because he travelled conveniently by means of a much more expensive option of an SANDF helicopter.”
GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron said: “Any misuse of state resources by any political leader, including the president, is unacceptable and if anyone is found to be guilty of this, they should be held accountable. We are confident the Office of the Public Protector will deal with the complaint in the acceptable manner.”
Public protector spokesperson Oupa Segwale had not responded to queries at the time of writing.
Michalakis added: “We often hear from the government that the SANDF doesn’t have resources to properly fulfil its constitutional function of safeguarding the Republic. It’s absolutely unethical of the president to then use such scarce resources to give him lifts to ANC events.”