Bathabile Dlamini Found Guilty Of Perjury
Bathabile Dlamini, the president of the ANC’s Woman League and a former minister of social development, has been found guilty of perjury.
After several technical glitches, Johannesburg magistrate Betty Khumalo made the decision on Wednesday afternoon. Khumalo stated that she was satisfied that Dlamini gave false evidence under oath in her written statement and oral testimony at an inquiry initiated by the Constitutional Court.
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“I am finding that the state has succeeded to prove the main count of perjury. As such, the accused is found to have knowingly and intentionally disposed of false evidence in substance to the effect that the workstreams did not directly report to her, that she did not attend meetings of the workstreams…”
Khumalo dismissed Dlamini’s lawyer’s claims that the defence was merely grasping at straws and that some arguments were without merit.
Dlamini, dressed in a red coat and navy pants, appeared stunned by Khumalo’s decision. This came as the ANC RET faction’s heavyweights flocked to pledge their support. Ace Magashule, the suspended secretary-general, NEC member Tony Yengeni, and former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo were among those arrested.
Dlamini was charged with perjury following a Constitutional Court ruling in 2018 following an investigation into whether she should pay costs in her personal capacity for the social grants payments debacle.
The inquiry, led by retired Gauteng judge president Bernard Ngoepe, looked into whether Dlamini had appointed workstreams of the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) to ensure that Sassa could take over the payment of social grants from Cash Paymaster Services.
According to the ConCourt, the investigation discovered that Dlamini appointed individuals to lead the parallel workstreams, and those individuals reported to her. The workstreams were supposed to report to the executive committee of Sassa, not the minister.
Dlamini denied lying under oath when she said the workstreams did not report to her. Khumalo, on the other hand, claimed that all evidence pointed to workstreams reporting to her. Court proceedings are underway to determine an appropriate sentence.
