Ramaphosa could have acted faster on Mkhize: DA
With Health Minister Zweli Mkhize now placed on special leave, the Democratic Alliance's (DA) Siviwe Gwarube believes President Cyril Ramaphosa could have moved sooner in the wake of an irregular health tender.
"The president, if he is quite serious about acting on corruption, he should have suspended the minister because of cause a suspension has great implications,” says Gwarube.
President Ramaphosa placed Mkhize on special leave on Tuesday.
The minister is said to have personal links to Digital Vibes, a KZN-based communications company which Health's investigators said had irregularly scored a R150 million tender from the department.
Political analyst Levy Ndou says with the country in the grip of a health crisis - it was a good move by a president under pressure.
"The state president is under a lot of pressure from the opposition parties, he's under pressure from members of his own organisation, the ANC.
"South Africans have all the right to demand a resignation from the minister based on the reports that are out therein the public, but at the same time there is an investigation that is going on."
The director-general of Health, Dr Sandile Buthelezi, has reassured South Africans that the department remains capable of managing the Covid-19 pandemic and the rollout of the vaccination programme.
