South Africa: President Redeploys Corruption Accused Simelane

GovernmentZA / Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
President Cyril Ramaphosa.
3 December 2024
Democratic Alliance (Cape Town)
press release By Adv. Glynnis Breytenbach MP - DA Spokesperson On Justice and Constitutional Development

The President's decision to remove Thembi Simelane as Minister of Justice and redeploy her to Minister of Human Settlements is short-sighted and disrespectful to South Africa.

Simelane does not belong in Cabinet, end of story.

On the 26th of August 2024, the scandal broke that the Minister of Justice, Thembi Simelane, received a "loan" of R575 600 from Gundo Wealth Solutions, a company directly linked to the unlawful investments of municipal funds into the now-defunct VBS Mutual Bank. This loan was received during her tenure as the Mayor of Polokwane. Just today further allegations broke about her lavish lifestyle, which, according to reports were well beyond her means.

While the President has finally addressed the untenable conflict of interest of having a Minister of Justice accused of corruption, his decision to simply move her somewhere else does not address the underlying issue, she stands accused of corruption and is subject to investigations. Human Settlements is a vital department for providing housing to South Africans. It must be led by a credible individual.

The indecisiveness of the President, who has explicitly committed to fighting corruption is especially shocking and quite blatantly insincere.

Mister President, our country deserves better. Remove Simelane from your Cabinet in the interest of our Republic.

Read the original article on DA.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2024 Democratic Alliance. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.