Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was “shocked” at the breach in security at the IEC on Saturday night.
But the silent protest against President Jacob Zuma was peaceful and she believed it would have been disruptive to remove the four women off the stage.
The minister’s spokesperson, Joy Nonzukiso Peter, said that any visible anger between ministers at the Results Operations Centre was not personal, but directed at the IEC security breach.
The minister was not responsible for security that night, she said.
“The question is how it came to be that nobody raised an alarm as protesters managed to get so close to the president,” Peter said.
While Zuma delivered his speech to mark the acceptance of the local election results, four women protesters stood in front of the stage carrying placards to mark 10 years since Zuma was acquitted of raping a woman known as “Khwezi”.
The women had IEC accreditation tags identifying themselves as part of the EFF team.
Journalists witnessed ministers Nomvula Mokonyane‚ Lindiwe Zulu and Bathabile Dlamini confronting Mapisa-Nqakula over the security breach and a heated exchange followed.
The Sunday Times reported that Mokonyane shouted: “You sold us out.”
Peter, who was present on Saturday night, downplayed the accusatory tone of the argument and disputed details, but admitted that “everyone was shocked and scared at the breach in security so close to the president”.
She claimed that after they had interacted, the three ministers understood that it wasn’t a defence issue at stake, and that the defence minister was not in charge of security personnel at the centre.
“At dinner later, they sat together and shared pleasantries,” she said.
The protest had been peaceful, Peter said.
“The minister didn’t feel there was any reason for the protesters to be manhandled off the stage while the president was speaking. This would have disrupted the speech and the minister’s concern was that the president be allowed to make his speech uninterrupted. This was the moment all South Africans had been waiting for.”
Peter declined to comment on Dlamini’s demand, in her capacity as ANC Women’s League president, that IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini issue an apology, besides pointing out that the IEC deputy president Terry Tselane had apologised for the disruption on Saturday night.
After Zuma’s speech, the four women were roughly removed from the venue.
Attempts on Sunday to get comment from the IEC were unsuccessful.