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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the National Police Commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, to request an update on the two charges the DA laid against former Minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini.

In October last year, the DA laid charges of perjury against Dlamini after she allegedly misled the Constitutional Court.  Retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe, who lead the Inquiry into her role in the 2017 social grants debacle, delivered a scathing assessment of Dlamini’s testimony before the court and referred the judgment to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for possible prosecution.

Judge Ngoepe’s found that “some of Minister Dlamini’s evidence under oath in the affidavits before this [Constitutional] Court and orally before the Inquiry was false” and that the Minister may have “misled the Court to protect herself from the consequences of her behaviour”. The Constitutional Court also branded the former Minister as “reckless and grossly negligent”.

While the NPA considers charging her, it is vital that all avenues to hold her to account are pursued to make sure that she does not dodge accountability for putting the lives of millions of the most vulnerable citizens at risk.

Two weeks ago, the DA laid another criminal charge against Dodging Dlamini, in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, after she admitted in her resignation letter that she knew about wives of ANC members that were allegedly involved in fraudulent relationships with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS).

In the letter, she stated that “[those] that made profit through CPS by their wives are known but because they are respected by the organisation nothing is being said to them."

The DA wrote to the Police Commissioner to request a full and urgent update on these two charges.

It is well known that many of the ANC candidates to Chair of Parliamentary portfolio committees, are deeply compromised individuals. People accused of criminal wrongdoing have been placed in these key positions and is a clear sign that accountability in the ANC is dead.

In the interest of justice and accountability, it is vital that the South African Police Services urgently complete their investigations and provide an update. As long as Dodging Dlamini and her ANC colleagues continue to dodge accountability, ordinary citizen’s will continue to lose faith in the legal system.

It is high time that the rights and welfare of ordinary citizens are put above narrow political interests.

Issued by The DA