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ActionSA welcomes the Public Protector’s investigation into the complaint we filed on 26 August against former Justice Minister and now hastily appointed Human Settlements Minister, Thembi Simelane, concerning allegations of corrupt transactions linked to the collapse of VBS Bank. 

Importantly, while this investigation is long overdue, following frustrating engagements with the Public Protector’s office, today also marks 100 days since we wrote to the President, calling for immediate action to safeguard the integrity of South Africa’s justice system. 

Three months later, instead of taking decisive action, the President sought to shield Simelane by announcing her transfer to Human Settlements in a late-evening cabinet reshuffle yesterday, a cop out manoeuvre that we believe is a cowardly attempt to deflect accountability from her compromised leadership in the Department of Justice.

Now that the Public Protector has overcome her aversion, having previously indicated that the complaint fell outside the prescribed period, ActionSA remains committed to ensuring that the President’s disingenuous and cowardly effort to protect her will ultimately fail. We remain determined that no individual facing allegations of corruption or lacking integrity should be allowed to serve in Cabinet.

There is no scenario in which ActionSA is prepared to endorse the President’s abdication of his responsibility as the ultimate guardian of the nation’s integrity by merely reshuffling his Cabinet, expecting us to accept that the same person deemed unfit to serve as Justice Minister is now considered fit to lead a critically important portfolio like Human Settlements, overseeing a budget of billions of rands and the responsibility of building desperately needed housing.

ActionSA believes that the President should have removed Simelane from Cabinet!

Issued by ActionSA Parliamentary Leader Athol Trollip