President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended Deputy Minister of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Dipuo Peters for one month.
The president's office said in a statement Friday that the decision followed sanctions adopted against Mr. Peters by the Joint Committee on Congressional Ethics and Members' Interests.
In 2023, rail activist group #UniteBehind lodged a complaint with parliament about the conduct of Peters, a member of the ANC who served as transport minister from 2013 to 2017.
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Mr Peters was accused of state capture violations at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) during his tenure as Transport Minister, including the Popo, which was found to have improperly spent R14 billion on ANC events without ensuring security.・Acts included dismissal of the board of directors led by Mr. Molefe. He missed payments and he didn't appoint a CEO when he needed to.
In October 2023, the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Ethics and Members' Interests found that Mr Peters breached the Code of Conduct while serving as Transport Minister. She was sanctioned and suspended for one term.
She challenged the decision in an emergency application in the Western Cape High Court in January. Peters denies any wrongdoing on her part, and she claims her suspension from Congress is unreasonable and unconstitutional. Her application was refused with costs.
In February, #UniteBehind also sent an urgent letter to Ramaphosa calling on Peters to be sacked for his role in enabling the Prasa looting while he was transport minister.
“The committee found that Ms. Peters violated the Code of Ethics and Conduct in her previous career as Minister of Transport. As a result, Mr. Peters was sanctioned and suspended for one term,” the Office of the President said. Stated.
Peters' suspension without pay will take effect on February 28 and end on March 28, 2024.
#UniteBehind leader Zacky Akhmat said Mr Ramaphosa's actions “should have been taken years ago”.
“Instead of firing Ms. Peters, he chose the gentlest and easiest option of suspending her for a month,” Ahmat said.
He said it was important that Peters was suspended without pay, but that Ramaphosa had “perpetuated criminal conduct by allowing parties guilty of facilitating state capture to get away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist”. “There is,” he said.
“If we had not filed a complaint and not taken legal action, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa would not have taken action,” Akhmat said.
© 2024 GroundUp. This article was originally published here.
