Minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, on Friday campaigned for the ANC in Strydenburg, in the Northern Cape, using Social Development funds to hand out food parcels and T-shirts.

At Friday’s event, Dlamini actively promoted the local ANC by-election candidate, with whom she shared the stage.

This is not the first time that this has happened. The Public Protector is currently investigating the Social Development Department’s involvement in a similar incident last year.

Last August, the department flooded the streets of Petrusville, in the Northern Cape, with volunteers who went door-to-door campaigning with ANC supporters days before the local by-election. The volunteers were joined by the Provincial Social Development Department’s Chief Financial Officer and regional managers.

I will today be writing to Public Protector, Adv Thuli Madonsela, to ask that this most recent incident in the Northern Cape is included in her on-going investigation.

Dlamini’s surprise trip last week to the town of Strydenburg comes just days before the area’s by-election next Wednesday.

This visit adds to the growing list of programmes run by the Social Development department which have taken place at an abnormally high rate in this highly-contested ward.

Reports in community papers indicate that, in the days leading up to the Strydenburg by-election the Department has:

• Launched the provincial government’s 16 Days of Activism campaign there with much fanfare, including the handing out of food parcels and T-shirts;
• Organized extensive door-to-door visits by the Provincial Social Development MEC as part of an “outreach programme”;
• Launched a programme to “assist 40 youths” to get their driver’s licences; and
• Handed out toys to children at a local education centre.

Social Development initiatives that will make a real difference to people’s lives should be fully supported.

However the spending of the people’s money on ANC by-election campaigns is power abuse.

Minister Dlamini must explain to the Public Protector why she is using her Department’s money to benefit her party in election campaigns. More importantly, she must explain to the people of South Africa why she is abusing their money.