Premier Thami Ntuli defends KwaZulu-Natal trip amid allegations
KWAZULU-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli has dismissed allegations of wrongdoing related to his trip to the United States last year.
The Office of the Premier expressed deep concern over the recent wave of misleading and inflammatory social media commentary regarding the official trip to New York in 2024.
“These false claims, circulated with apparent malicious intent, seek to distort the truth and distract from the Premier’s commitment to ethical leadership and transparency. It is not lost on us that these attacks surface precisely at the time when the Premier is preparing to address the people of KwaZulu-Natal on sensitive allegations,” said the premier’s office in statement.
It continued, “Let the record reflect that the trip to New York was an official government engagement, fully sanctioned by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Executive Council. The Premier, along with a senior delegation, participated in a high-level international conference on climate change—an urgent global matter that continues to directly affect the province through recurring natural disasters, including devastating floods and snow that affected the province during the trip.
It added that other South African provinces that participated in this conference include Gauteng and the Western Cape.
The premier’s office stated that KwaZulu-Natal’s participation was both strategic and necessary. It reaffirmed the province’s commitment to global collaboration in confronting the climate crisis and securing financing while also advancing its own provincial resilience agenda.