The DA has given the ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini 48 hours to report her alleged knowledge of corrupt activities by some in the ANC to law enforcement agencies.
This comes after Dlamini’s scathing resignation letter as she quit
as a member of the National Assembly on Monday.
The former social development minister has accused some of her fellow ANC leaders of politically vilifying her and using her as a scapegoat on the controversies that surrounded her in recent years.
Her woes included the recommendation by the Constitutional Court in 2017 for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to investigate her
for perjury relating to the social grants saga involving Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), which controversially secured the tender to distribute the grants.
In her letter, Dlamini denied any wrongdoing, saying wives of politicians instead were beneficiaries of the controversial CPS contract.
The DA spokesperson on social development Bridget Masango said Dlamini was legally compelled to report the alleged offence to the police in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, as it would be illegal not to do so.
“The DA will give Dlamini 48 hours to report this alleged corruption to the police, if she fails, we will proceed with laying criminal charges against her.
“The DA has already laid perjury charges against her following the damning judgment in which the Constitutional Court requested that the NPA consider whether Dlamini should be prosecuted for lying under oath during her testimony at the Judge Bernard Ngoepe inquiry into the social grants crisis,” Masango said.
Dlamini was one of several ANC leaders flagged for allegations of wrongdoing by the party’s integrity committee.
She said while she was not bitter over President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to drop her from his trimmed new Cabinet, she was disappointed by what she described as a campaign to discredit her.
“We must be all worried about the expediency that has been done with the aim of discrediting some of us. I hold no grudge for not being appointed. What disturbed me gravely is that the legend that has been used is that there is a lot of noise around me,”Dlamini said.
Dlamini also rejected allegations of involvement in any wrongdoing in the social grants saga involving CPS, pointing fingers at unnamed wives of ANC politicians.
“What is also important to me is that I never arrived with CPS to the department. I found them there already doing work with the department, but when people speak one hears nuisances that say I had something to do with CPS. Those that made profit through CPS through their wives are known, but because they are well respected by the organisation, nothing is said to them.
“I have been made a scapegoat and an easy target,” Dlamini said.
She also denied lying to the apex court and to Judge Ngoepe, adding that she was misunderstood as she was standing her ground with other parties who dragged her to court, including Freedom Under Law and Black Sash.
“Their approach was very aggressive and I had to be defensive. This did not come across well with the judge, coupled with lack of understanding my language,” she said.
Dlamini follows a growing queue of former ministers who have decided to resign as members of the National Assembly after they failed to make the cut in Ramaphosa’s new Cabinet.
Their resignations are set to
allow the leaders benefits of ministerial pensions, which they would be
forced to forfeit had they chosen
to stay on as ordinary members of Parliament.
Dlamini and ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe could not be reached for comment.
Other ministers who have also left their seats in the National Assembly include former tourism minister
Derek Hanekom, former energy minister Jeff Radebe, former social development minister Susan Shabangu and former home affairs minister Siyabonga Cwele.