Ngelale confirmed the development in a statement he shared on Saturday.
This, he said, meant a pause to his functions as the Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity and Official Spokesperson of the President; Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action, and Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen.
The presidential spokesman said the Chief of Staff to the president was formally notified about the development on Friday.
“On Friday, I submitted a memo to the Chief of Staff to the President informing my office that I am proceeding on an indefinite leave of absence to frontally deal with medical matters presently affecting my immediate, nuclear family.
“While I fully appreciate that the ship of state waits for no man, this agonising decision — entailing a pause of my functions as the Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity and Official Spokesperson of the President; Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action, and Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen — was taken after significant consultations with my family over the past several days as a vexatious medical situation has worsened at home.
“I look forward to returning to full-time national service when time, healing, and fate permit.
I respectfully ask for some privacy for my family and I during this time,” Ngelale said.
