DA asks court to order firing of ‘lying’ ministers
● The DA wants the Pretoria high court to force President Cyril Ramaphosa to sack Bathabile Dlamini and Malusi Gigaba, arguing the two ministers are liars who cannot be trusted to uphold the constitution.
In court papers prepared for filing in court tomorrow, DA federal executive chair James Selfe argues that Ramaphosa should have fired Dlamini and Gigaba after he took office in February because they were found to have lied under oath in separate court cases.
Ramaphosa moved Dlamini from social development and appointed her minister of women in the presidency, and Gigaba moved from the finance ministry to home affairs.
As minister of social development, Dlamini was embroiled in the messy social grants saga during which the Constitutional Court declared a R10bn contract with Cash Paymaster Services illegal. The court later ruled that she be personally liable for 20% of the legal costs incurred by the Black Sash Trust and Freedom Under Law in the case because she “demonstrated bad faith and, at best for her, was reckless and grossly negligent”.
Dlamini could not be reached for comment yesterday and her spokesperson had not responded.
The DA argues that Gigaba cannot be entrusted with upholding the constitution after the high court in Pretoria found in December last year that he also lied under oath during his first stint as home affairs minister.
Fireblade, a company owned by the Oppenheimer family, brought an action against Gigaba after he reversed the original approval he gave it to run a private immigration terminal at the OR Tambo International Airport.
Gigaba later claimed he had never given approval, but the Pretoria court dismissed his version as “nonsensical” and “palpably untrue”.
“In essence, Mr Gigaba was found to have committed perjury and to have violated the constitution,” Selfe says in his founding affidavit.
“The conclusions of impropriety, dishonesty and a lack of good faith on the part of Ms Dlamini and Mr Gigaba are inescapable … In light thereof, they are unquestionably unfit to serve … as part of the national executive,” Selfe’s application reads.
“The president’s decision to take no action, despite the drastic and far-reaching findings made by this court and the Constitutional Court, serve to undermine the rule of law and democracy.”
Selfe said Ramaphosa had not explained his failure to dismiss the ministers, which created the impression he was putting the interests of the ANC before those of SA.
Both Dlamini and Gigaba serve on the ANC’s powerful national executive committee.
Presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko said the presidency was “not in a position to conclusively answer [questions about the case] at this point. The state attorney has not received any court papers, nor a record of such application.”
At the time of going to print, Gigaba had not responded to questions sent to him yesterday.