Durban - ANC Women’s League president and NEC member, Bathabile Dlamini, was sentenced to four years imprisonment or a fine of R200 000 after she was convicted of perjury in March.
Judge Betty Khumalo handed the sentence down on Friday at the Johannesburg Magistrate Court in Gauteng.
“The accused is accordingly sentenced to the fine of R200 000 or four years imprisonment. Half of the sentence is suspended for a period of five years on condition that the accused is not convicted of the offence of perjury and Section 38 of the Superior Court Act 10 of 2013,” Judge Betty Khumalo said.
Dlamini, 59, was found guilty of perjury for lying under oath during the Ngoepe inquiry into a Sassa grant scandal in 2017.
The perjury charge will mark the second conviction of the ANCWL leader after her fraud charges linked to the Parliament Travelgate scam.
The State argued for a harsh sentence in light of her being a two-time offender.
Dlamini is also a member of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC), the ruling party’s main organ.
Evidence provided by the State last month proved Dlamini lied under oath during the Sassa Inquiry.
Presiding Judge Khumalo said she was satisfied the former Social Development minister had lied in her written statement and oral testimony to the commission.
Advocate Tshepiso Mphahlane, Dlamini’s lawyer, said she should be given a hefty fine if the court felt imprisonment was too harsh a sentence.
Mphalane also argued she was a pensioner with financial dependants.
ANC NEC members Ace Magashule and Tony Yengeni showed their support for the convicted criminal.
Yengeni was quoted last month saying imprisonment was too harsh and that Dlamini should be given a fine.
But the State was having none of it, arguing an example should be made of public servants for wrongdoing.