Deputy President David Mabuza sick at home
Deputy President David Mabuza is sick at home in Mpumalanga.
Even though his illness was not disclosed to the public, his office said Mabuza is still negative for covid-19.
Mabuza is ill and that is why he cancelled planned question and answer sessions in the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
His spokesperson Matshepo Seedat said, “The deputy president has, in the past, spoken openly about his ill health. As per previous communication by the department for defence on the coronavirus test result, nothing has changed.”
She said, as per advice from his doctor, he cancelled his appearance in Parliament.
“In his correspondence, the deputy president has assured both presiding officers that he will avail himself to respond to oral replies on a date to be mutually agreed to.”
Mabuza last had an official engagement on 16 July when he convened a virtual meeting of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) Inter-Ministerial Committee.
The meeting was aimed at deliberating on the mitigation of the impact of Covid-19 on the HIV and TB response in South Africa.
On Thursday, the NCOP would have quizzed Mabuza on reviving the economy and protecting the most vulnerable members of society in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The DA also had a question about farm murders, and the EFF on the unbanning of alcohol.
A week later, Mabuza was also expected to appear in the National Assembly, where he would have been questioned on his role as South Africa’s special envoy to South Sudan, the mandate given to him by the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) to visit provinces, a “remedy” for Covid-19, which apparently caught the eye of US President Donald Trump’s advisor, and other energy options due to Eskom’s constraints.
These questions will now be posed at a later date.
Mabuza’s low profile during the lockdown period has raised eyebrows – so much so that opposition MPs had asked about his whereabouts during a meeting of the National Assembly Programming Committee in May.
Mabuza did, however, answer questions in a virtual sitting of the National Assembly on 25 June.
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