ActionSA welcomes the belated decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to finally remove Minister Sisisi Tolashe as Minister of Social Development, following the avalanche of scandal that has engulfed her tenure.
This outcome is a clear vindication of ActionSA’s relentless efforts to expose corruption at the highest levels of government. It was ActionSA, through a written parliamentary question, that blew the lid on the Minister’s receipt of a foreign “gift” of two SUVS from Chinese officials in the ongoing Cars-for-Cadres scandal engulfing Ministers in the GNU. We immediately called for the firing of the minister for blatantly lying to Parliament and engaging in an elaborate cover-up regarding these luxury vehicles.
But it did not stop there. On 8 April, ActionSA laid criminal charges of corruption, filed an ethics complaint with Parliament for breaches of disclosure rules, and submitted a complaint to the Public Protector for violations of the Executive Ethics Act.
The dismissal of Minister Tolashe must not mark the end of this matter. She must now face the full and heavy might of the law.
ActionSA maintains a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. Under our proposed Zero Tolerance Corruption Bill, introduced in March this year, individuals guilty of such offences would face a minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.
We further call for:
- The former Minister to be denied any loss-of-office gratuity payouts as she leaves office in disgrace.
- Deductions to her government pension.
This outcome did not come from decisive leadership. It came only after relentless and sustained pressure by ActionSA. The fact that the Government of National Unity (GNU) required such immense pressure to act against a Minister so clearly implicated in wrongdoing exposes a troubling truth: this administration of 76 Ministers and deputies is simply a Cabinet of Corruption that protects perpetrators of wrongdoing.
ActionSA will continue to fight fearlessly and relentlessly for a government that serves the people, not itself.
ActionSA Funzi Ngobeni (KZN Provincial Chairperson) Governance Expert: Served as the MMC for Finance in Johannesburg under Mashaba. The Mission: Tasked with growing ActionSA’s footprint in KwaZulu-Natal, a notoriously difficult and contested political landscape.
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Bunny Chow. This is a traditional South African Indian dish and usually consists of curry served in a hollowed-out half-loaf of unsliced white bread. It’s best when the bread is soft and fresh and the curry is extra spicy.