Johannesburg
South Africa’s president has docked three months of the defence minister’s pay after she allowed governing party officials to fly on an air force plane to Zimbabwe with her on 9 September. Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was accused of misusing state resources for party political business. The defence force had argued she was on official business and had simply given the other passengers a lift. But President Cyril Ramaphosa called it an “error of judgement”. Ms Mapisa-Nqakula had been travelling to Zimbabwe’s capital Harare for a scheduled meeting to discuss regional issues. The delegation from South Africa’s governing party – the African National Congress (ANC) – was meanwhile going there for crisis talks with Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party aimed at helping tackle the country’s political and economic woes.