Did NDZ mislead the nation or Parliament?
18 May 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is astounded that the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, was unable or unwilling to answer our written Parliamentary question regarding the public submissions her Department received and relied on to make changes to the Government’s Draft Framework for the Risk-Adjusted Strategy to bring different sectors of the economy back to work.
In her reply, the Minister told the DA that the information “is not readily available in the Department”.
We find the fact that the Minister claims to not have ready access to the requested information dubious at best. South Africans were assured that the easement of the lockdown from Level 5 to Level 4 was an informed decision. We were assured that every decision made in during the lockdown would be made on the basis of public participation and scientific research. Was South Africans’ faith placed in the Government misguided?
Surely Minister Dlamini-Zuma’s claims that her Department received 2000 submissions in support of prolonging the controversial ban on cigarettes – should be readily available. Were these comments not the last nail in the coffin of lifting the ban, as she then claimed? Did the Minister lie when she made these proclamations on national television? Or is she lying now?