https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
System|Solutions
System|Solutions
system|solutions
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

Ramaphosa wants detailed report from Justice Minister amid VBS allegations

Close

Embed Video

1

Ramaphosa wants detailed report from Justice Minister amid VBS allegations

Image of Cyril Ramaphosa, Thembi Simelane and Paul Mashatile
Cyril Ramaphosa, Thembi Simelane and Paul Mashatile

28th August 2024

By: Thabi Shomolekae
Creamer Media Senior Writer

ARTICLE ENQUIRY      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

Following backlash from civil society organisations and political parties calling for Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Thembi Simelane to account for her alleged involvement with Mutual Bank VBS, President Cyril Ramaphosa has requested a detailed report and briefing from her on the matter.

Early this week, media reports revealed that while serving as the mayor of Polokwane in 2016, Simelane took a "commercial loan" of R575 600 from Gundo Wealth Solutions, a company that brokered “unlawful” investments of R349-million into VBS Bank on behalf of the Polokwane municipality, amongst others.

Advertisement

On Tuesday, civil society organisations called on Simelane to “fully and transparently” respond to the recent VBS allegations levelled against her.

In a joint statement, Freedom Under Law, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Judges Matter and Defend Our Democracy said perceptions of corruption and conflicts of interest caused significant harm to public confidence in governance institutions and the rule of law.

Advertisement

The organisations pointed out that it would be untenable for such serious allegations against a Minister in such an important portfolio to remain unanswered.

ActionSA has since approached the Public Protector to urgently investigate allegations made against Simelane, highlighting that should there be sufficient evidence of wrongdoing, the party would write to Ramaphosa, requesting the immediate removal of Simelane as Justice Minister.   

The Democratic Alliance also expressed concerns, noting it had submitted a request to the chair of the Justice Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Simelane to appear before the portfolio to answer to the allegations.

The EFF called for Simelane to immediately resign and also urged law enforcement agencies to act swiftly in holding her accountable.

The party said Simelane's actions were not merely unethical; they were criminal.

The GOOD party said it was "completely untenable" to have Simelane embroiled in the VBS fraud and corruption scandal.

"Unfortunately, that means that Simelane cannot remain the Minister responsible for a justice system that may well have to investigate and prosecute her if the allegations sustain a prima facie case. Equally, she cannot remain at the helm if a decision not to prosecute is the ultimate outcome and is to have unimpeachable credibility," GOOD stated.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE ARTICLE ENQUIRY

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za