ANC welcomes Ndabeni-Abrahams suspension, DA and EFF call for axing

Ramaphosa announced on Wednesday that he had suspended Ndabeni-Abrahams for two months after she violated the country’s lockdown regulations.

The government will also withhold her pay cheque on one of the two months. 

Her suspension follows an uproar over a picture showing Ndabeni-Abrahams having lunch at the residence for the former deputy minister of higher education Mduduzi Manana on Sunday.

"The ANC calls on all its deployees and the rest of society to respect and abide by the letter and spirit of all lockdown regulations to effectively disrupt the chain of transmission occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic,"  the governing party said on a statement. 

The decision to place Ndebeni-Abrahams on special leave follows growing calls for her to be axed from the cabinet.

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Both the country’s two biggest opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), believe she should be removed.

The EFF believes a suspension is not enough. 

"The two-month censure imposed on the minister for breaching the lockdown is nonsensical and suggests that Ministers and Members of the Executive must be treated as if they are above the law. Ordinary citizens are subjected to the full might of the law should they breach lockdown regulations," the red berets' Delisile Ngwenya says. 

The DA’s Phumzile van Damme added that ordinary South Africans have been arrested and humiliated for violating the lockdown and, because of this, Ramaphosa needs to send out a stronger message. 

"We thought it important for the president to send out a strong message to the public by both firing her and laying a criminal complaint against her."