South African minister placed on compulsory two months leave for attending lunch at a friend’s house despite Lockdown Order

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has placed the country’s Minister for Communications and Digital Technologies, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, on special leave for two months, one month of which will be unpaid.

The leave comes after a picture of her having lunch with her politician friend, MP Mduduzi Manana, during lockdown emerged on social media.

In a statement released Wednesday morning, the president expressed his disapproval of the minister’s actions, stating that it undermined the requirement that all citizens stay at home during the lockdown.

Ndabeni-Abraham had over the weekend, paid a visit to a friend and had lunch with his family – her action, however, contravened the lockdown order of the government for all citizens to stay in their homes as the nation fights to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus.

South Africa so far, has 1749 confirmed cases of Coronavirus, 45 recoveries and 13 deaths.

See the statement placing her on special leave and reactions from South Africans below,

South Africans react,