Aubrey Mashqi, an independent political analyst, says the controversy surrounding the trip of Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the deputy president, to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has presented
"manna from heaven" to the opposition, as it came in the midst of an election campaign.
Mashiqi says the issue also presented a political and public relations disaster because the presidency failed to coordinate their communication strategies. "They failed to ensure that communication came from a single point, and since it came from too many points, contradiction set in," he said. The analyst says this was because the presidency did not anticipate that the issue would end up in the public domain.
When asked exactly how much was spent on the deputy president's trip, Murphy Morobe, a spokesperson in the presidency, said: "I don't have the actual cost of the trip, but I am sure that trip like this costs a reasonable amount of money."
Out of the reported 12, only seven people have so far been identified as passengers in the plane used to transport the deputy president. Morobe refused to reveal the identity of the remaining five saying it would compromise the security of the deputy president.
Morobe disclosed yesterday that Mlambo-Ngcuka's husband, as well as the wife of Zola Skweyiya, the social welfare minister, were among the sizeable party accompanying her to the UAE.