‘Fire this liar’
President Cyril Ramaphosa has been urged to axe former minister of social development Bathabile Dlamini after a damning Constitutional Court ruling yesterday.
Former boss of social development culpable in grants payout debacle.
The Constitutional Court has denounced former minister of social development Bathabile Dlamini’s actions in the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) grant beneficiary payout scandal and people are calling for her head.
“It has been a sorry saga and it is proper that Minister Dlamini must, in her personal capacity, bear a portion of the costs,” said Justice Johan Froneman in the unanimous decision.
“It would account for her degree of culpability in misleading the court – conduct which is deserving of censure by this court as a mark of displeasure – more so since she held a position of responsibility as a member of the executive. Her conduct is inimical to the values underpinning the constitution that she undertook to uphold when she took up office.”
Froneman found Dlamini liable for 20% of the costs incurred by Black Sash and Freedom Under Law (FUL), leaving the taxpayer through the minister of social development, the CEO of Sassa and Sassa to pay the other 80%.
The full amount is yet to be quantified by Black Sash and FUL, but is believed to be around the R2 million mark.
“The inquiry report’s findings suggest strongly that some of Minister Dlamini’s evidence under oath in the affidavits before this court and orally before the inquiry was false,” Froneman said.
He directed a copy of the inquiry report and the judgment be sent to the NPA “to consider whether Minister Dlamini lied under oath and, if so, whether she should be prosecuted for perjury”.
Dlamini’s spokesperson Mandla Tshabalala said yesterday she was still studying the judgment and would respond in due course.
Froneman found Dlamini “did not act in good faith”, her “conduct was reckless and grossly negligent” and “she used her position as minister of the department to place herself between constitutionally enshrined rights and those entitled to them”.
Dominique Msibi from the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) said there was no justification for keeping Dlamini in Cabinet and called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to dismiss her.
“The chickens have finally come home to roost. Dlamini has been operating with arrogance and impunity, disregarding and blatantly flouting several orders by the Constitutional Court,” said Msibi.
“We welcome the ConCourt’s dismissal of Dlamini’s argument that the separation of powers meant she could be held to account only by parliament. This sends a clear message to political office bearers that they can indeed be held to account.”
The DA’s shadow minister of social development Bridget Masango also called for Dlamini to go.
“Given this damning judgment, Ramaphosa must fire Dlamini immediately from her [current] position as minister of women in the presidency,” Masango said.
Political analyst Daniel Silke said ministers who were increasingly being caught in alleged malfeasance or embarrassed in the courts were becoming political liabilities for Ramaphosa.
“By holding on to ministers like this, he does, in a sense, undermine his own intentions to reboot the state in terms of governance and credible servants of the people,” Silke noted.
“Recent opinion polls show support for the ANC has been relatively soft and this is an electoral gift for Ramaphosa to hold on to a minister who has been tainted.”
IFP spokesperson on women and social development Liezl van der Merwe said the court held what the IFP had always believed.
“As much as the court came down hard on Dlamini today, the focus now shifts to Ramaphosa,” she said. –