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Minister of Public Works, Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, yesterday admitted that her department is riddled with corruption. In her statement, the Minister said that she “inherited a poisoned chalice”. This may be so, but the Minister chose to drink deeply from that chalice.

Let us remind her that the Public Protector’s findings in the SAPS lease fiasco, for which she is yet to account for, points to unlawful conduct and a violation of the Constitution by the Minister herself.

Instead of taking responsibility for fixing the mess, Minister Mahlangu-Nkabinde is attempting to divert the blame for the situation in the Department to officials. She should be ashamed of herself.

The bottom line is that you cannot have a compromised Minister cleaning out a corrupt department. It just doesn’t work. She is too compromised by her own unlawful conduct to hold others to account for theirs.

It’s time for her to go.