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Today, the Democratic Alliance (DA) formally laid criminal charges against Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, following severe allegations of corruption levelled against him which span almost two decades.

These include an intricate web of nepotism and family patronage of which Mashatile is allegedly the ultimate beneficiary, with the most recent scandal being the purchase of a Constantia mansion by Mashatile’s son-in-law, Nonkwelo, at a cost of R28,9 million by his company which allegedly still owes the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements R7 million for a failed Alexandria housing project.

The DA has also submitted a formal complaint to parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests for a breach of the members’ Code of Conduct by Mashatile, for failure to disclose registrable interests, or for wilfully or grossly negligently, providing the Registrar with incorrect or misleading details. Mashatile also faces allegations for having misled parliament for failing to properly declare his use of various properties, including a R37 million Waterfall house in Gauteng. In addition to this, Mashatile also breached the Code of Conduct by failing to act in all respects in a manner that is consistent with the integrity of their office or the government.

Given that the appointment of the Deputy President is made solely at the discretion of the President of the Republic, the DA submitted a dossier of allegations levelled against Paul Mashatile to the Union Buildings for the attention of President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday, 2 February 2024.

We gave President Ramaphosa a full week to act against his ‘Number Two’, urging him to use the 2024 State of the Nation Address (SONA) to declare, to the nation, the urgent and necessary action to remove Paul Mashatile from his Executive, and to submit him for a full Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation.

It comes as no surprise that President Ramaphosa has, once again, done nothing to act against the corrupt cadres within his government and within his own party. In light of President Ramaphosa’s indifference and sheer paralysis, the DA has now taken matters into our own hands to rid our country and its government of the ANC’s corruption.

Furthermore, had President Ramphosa instituted lifestyle audits for his cabinet ministers, as promised in his first SONA, all of the allegations levelled against Paul Mashatile would have come to light for the requisite action to be taken. This entire sordid debacle is proof that President Ramaphosa was never serious about dealing with corruption in his government and within the ANC.

The integrity of the South African government is but laughable when our country’s second in command has such a large cloud of dire corruption allegations hanging over his head. President Ramaphosa can no longer bury his head in the sand and hope it will somehow blow over. There now exists more than sufficient evidence to suggest that Paul Mashatile is, and has been involved in egregious corruption during his tenure of various executive positions over the past two decades, and it is now time for him to face the consequences.

As South Africa approaches a hinge of history election later this year, we cannot allow our government under the ANC to deflect from the fact that almost every state failure and every service collapse can be directly traced to state capture and severe corruption that has become endemic under the ANC.

Furthermore, we cannot allow President Cyril Ramaphosa to float above his own party’s corruption when he aided and abetted it at every turn along the way.

South Africans deserves far better than Paul Mashatile, and it deserves far better than the ANC.

The DA will continue to hold the most corrupt in our country to account to truly Rescue South Africa.

Issued by John Steenhuisen MP - Leader of the Democratic Alliance