The Johannesburg Magistrate's Court has imposed a R200 000 fine or a four-year prison sentence, with half of either of the two suspended, for African National Congress Women's League president Bathabile Dlamini.

She was sentenced for perjury on Friday morning.

In imposing the sentence, Magistrate Betty Khumalo said the offence was a serious one that warrants retribution.

She said the sentence imposed should not only rehabilitate Dlamini, but should also reform her.

Dlamini opted to pay R20 000 on Friday and the rest of the money on or before 29 April. 

Khumalo earlier found Dlamini guilty of perjury for lying under oath during a 2017 inquiry into the social grants debacle at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) that left millions of grant beneficiaries unsure about whether they would receive their money.

The magistrate also found that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and that the former minister had lied under oath. 

Dlamini's defence team argued that she should not be found guilty of perjury because Section 38 proceedings, such as the Ngoepe Inquiry into the Sassa debacle, were not formal judicial ones.

But Khumalo said the inquiry qualified as a formal judicial process.

She said she was she was satisfied that Dlamini gave false evidence during the inquiry.