Online Special • Created February 20, 2020 14:42

Gaffe: Like Magu, South African Minister says she’s only been to Geneva, not Switzerland

Days after the the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu claimed that he strongly believe that Cornoavirus was caused by corruption, a minister in South Africa, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has denied visiting Switzerland, claiming she went to Geneva. The South Africa’s Minister of Communications, Ndabeni-Abrahams was appointed to the cabinet by President […]

Gaffe: Like Magu, South African Minister says she’s only been to Geneva, not Switzerland

Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams

Days after the the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu claimed that he strongly believe that Cornoavirus was caused by corruption, a minister in South Africa, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has denied visiting Switzerland, claiming she went to Geneva.

The South Africa’s Minister of Communications, Ndabeni-Abrahams was appointed to the cabinet by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018.

She is currently being ridiculed following a gaffe which suggested that the 42-year-old did not know that Geneva is a major city in Switzerland.

Mrs Ndabeni-Abrahams – who was seen as a rising star in government when President Ramaphosa appointed her to the cabinet in 2018 – has been under heavy criticism since local media reported allegations in January that she used public money to take her husband to Switzerland to celebrate her wedding anniversary, while on an official visit.

Responding to the allegations during an interview with South Africa’s privately owned eNCA television station, the minister said: “Do you think I will take my husband to a wedding anniversary in Switzerland?

“I have said on this matter that I have never been to Switzerland. My husband has never been to Switzerland. We went to Geneva and New York to, of course, to do the work that I am expected to do. It is a blatant lie.”

The South African news site has described her comments as “the gaffe of the year”, while others mocked her on Twitter”.

Here is her comments:

Recall that the EFFC boss had blamed Coronavirus on corruption while speaking on Tuesday in Kaduna at the Passing Out Parade of Detective Inspector Course Five of the EFCC.

He said: “Your excellency, corruption is worse than all the diseases now running about.”

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