PORT ELIZABETH - Minister for Public Service and Administration Ayanda Dlodlo on Monday responded to the ethics committee's findings on a 2016 trip to Dubai for which she did not pay nor declared a benefit, saying she would accept the outcome.
"As the record will show, I have been fully transparent and truthful about my trip and the fact that Mr Hlongwane paid for my accommodation," the minister said in a statement.
"It was my own admission that served as the basis from which Honourable Van Damme submitted a request to the ethics committee to investigate.
"I fully respect the decision of the ethics committee which found that my interpretation of family members fell short of the committee's own definition
of a family member in terms of the executive ethics code," Dlodlo said.
Reiterating that she respected the Parliamentary legal codes, Dlodlo said she did not wish to act contrary to them and that she accepted that as part of the sanction she would be counselled on all aspects of the code.
The minister has said in earlier media reports that she considers controversial businessman Fana Hlongwane, who she says paid for her expenses on the trip, a brother.