President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended Deputy Minister of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Dipuo Peters for one month without pay for breaching ministerial ethics rules.
PResident Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended Deputy Minister of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Dipuo Peters for one month without pay for breaching the ministerial code of ethics.
The president's office said in a statement on Friday that the decision was based on sanctions adopted by Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Commissioners' Interests for violating the code of conduct while he was transport minister.
According to the presidential office, the suspension period will be for one month, from February 28, 1994 to March 28, 1994.
In October last year, a parliamentary committee ruled that Mr Peters' failure to appoint a group chief executive after the Passenger Rail Authority of South Africa (Prasa) had begun the recruitment process, ultimately costing the company R1.76 million. It was recognized that
The commission found that Peters had “failed to act in accordance with the public trust at every turn” and failed to fulfill his constitutional duties.
Peters “did not put the public interest above his own interests.”
Mr Peters had sacked Prasa's board three months before the end of his term in a bid to stop an investigation into R14 billion in improper spending during 2015.
In its findings, the commission found that Mr Peters was “negligent” in failing to appoint a new chief executive officer for Prasa Group during his tenure as transport minister. It was one of three code violations committed by the police.
Mr. Peters unsuccessfully went to court to challenge the commission's decision.
In January, the Western Cape High Court rejected his emergency application to stop Parliament from acting, paving the way for the commission to be suspended, which must be done in one sitting. he claimed.
In her testimony before the Zondo Commission on State Capture in 2021, Peters failed to defend her decision over Prasa in a fight against then-board president Popo Molefe, whom she sacked.
Mr Peters admitted his decision not to appoint a new CEO for Prasa was “irrational” and was made out of frustration with the treatment of the board, led by Mr Molefe.
