By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Public Protector’s office has cleared former communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams of any impropriety in flying her husband to New York and Geneva on taxpayers’ dime.
Two years after the trip caused controversy, Ndabeni-Abrahams was cleared of any wrongdoing.
At the time, she said the trip with her husband, Thato Abrahams, was part of an official trip and in line with the Ministerial Handbook.
“The investigation revealed that allegations of failure by the erstwhile Minister of Communications, Telecommunication and Postal Services, Ms Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams to obtain an approval from President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa for undertaking an international trip with Thato Abrahams to New York, United States of America and Geneva, Switzerland and the subsequent improper advantage, is unsubstantiated,” investigator Baldwin Neshunzhi wrote.
The pair took two international trips in September 2019, to New York and Switzerland. According to internal documents, the minister attended a conference in New York.
Ndabeni-Abrahams proceeded to Geneva, Switzerland, to take part in a congress. While in Switzerland, Thato allegedly took the chauffeur-driven Mercedes-Benz S600 that had been allocated to Ndabeni-Abrahams, from Geneva to Paris, in France, to go shopping.
The couple got married at a lavish wedding in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, in September 2012.
Ndabeni-Abrahams was also been accused of outsourcing departmental functions to Thato, by allowing him to interview candidates for positions on the various boards for which she has political oversight.
An official government letter for the trip, revealed that two return business class tickets to Switzerland cost taxpayers R76719, excluding food and accommodation.
Chapter 6 of the Ministerial Handbook states clearly that “Ministers and Deputy Ministers should approach the President in writing to request approval for the intended visit and in the event of a planned official visit abroad, such request should be at least two weeks prior to departure.”