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ActionSA has once again written to President Ramaphosa, urging him to protect the integrity of South Africa's justice system by holding Minister Thembi Simelane accountable for mounting allegations of corruption that have made the Minister's continued leadership of the justice department entirely untenable.

While the Minister has been representing South Africa abroad in Rome and Brussels, recent revelations, jointly reported by News24 and Daily Maverick, allege that she lived a lavish lifestyle exceeding 569% of her known income while serving as the Mayor of Polokwane. Importantly, this shocking exposé follows allegations of her involvement in her municipality’s unlawful investment into the now-defunct VBS Bank during the same period when she allegedly solicited a dodgy "loan" of R575,000 from VBS investment broker, Gundo Wealth Solutions, all while serving as Mayor of the same municipality.

It is beyond dispute that Minister Simelane’s position has become wholly untenable—a reality we have repeatedly called on the President to address with urgency—as she presides over the very department that, in light of the grave allegations against her, requires her to be the central subject of a thorough investigation.

ActionSA believes that the President's failure to act, on the repeated grounds of needing “time and space” is a clear manifestation of the pervasive lack of accountability that has entrenched a culture where corruption and the abuse of office are now defining features of governance across all spheres of government. This is precisely because consequence management, especially at the highest levels, remains strikingly elusive.

ActionSA has pursued every available mechanism available to hold the Minister accountable, from Parliament to the President, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), and the Public Protector, with the relevant authorities now having gone mute, leaving the only remaining course of action as litigation, a step we increasingly believe will ultimately be necessary. 

Issued by ActionSA Parliamentary Leader Athol Trollip