Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula during the swearing in of the new Presidential Cabinet at the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria, 30 May 2019. Picture: Jacques Nelles
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is unharmed after an intruder gained access to her home in East London. She had been at her residence in Gauteng at the time.
SA National Defence Force spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said in a statement the person “unlawfully gained access to her home in East London” over the weekend.
He said the intruder was confronted by the caretaker of the house but was “unable to explain how he was able to gain access nor identify himself or who he was nor where he came from”.
Dlamini said the minister had been on sick leave and recuperating at her residence in Gauteng for the past three weeks.
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“The minister was never and at no point near East London at any given time since she has been on sick leave,” he said.
Dlamini also referred to “malicious and insulting comments” making the rounds on social media around the incident, saying that Mapisa-Nqakula dismissed these with contempt.
Mapisa-Nqakula’s salary was docked for three months in September after she allowed several ANC leaders to piggyback on an official flight to Zimbabwe to meet with Zanu-PF.
The DA has since complained that she had not been able to produce minutes for the official meeting she said she had with her counterpart during that trip.
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